COUNT  ROBERT 
OF  PARIS 

AND 

THE  SURGEON'S 
DAUGHTER 

BY 

SIR  WALTER  SCOTT 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1913 
BY    HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN    COMPANY 

ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


TALES  OF  MY  LANDLORD 

jFotirtl^  anU  last  Scries 


The  European  with  the  Asian  shore  — 

Sophia's  cupola  with  golden  gleam  — 
The  cypress  groves  —  Olympus  high  and  hoar  — 

The  twelve  isles,  and  the  more  than  I  could  dream, 
Far  less  describe,  present  the  very  view 
That  charm'd  the  charming  Mary  Montagu. 

Don  Juan. 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF   PARIS 

VOLUME  I 


Ahora  Men,  dijo  el  Cura:  traedme,  senor  ktiesped,  aquesos  libros,  que 
los  quiero  ver.  Que  me  place,  respondio  el;  y  entrando  en  su  aposento, 
saco  del  una  malclilla  vieja  cerrada  con  una  cadenilla,  y  abriendola,  hallo 
en  ella  Ires  libros  grandes  y  unos  papeles  de  muy  buena  letra  escritos  de 
mano.  —  Don  Quixote,  Parte  I,  Capitulo  32. 

It  is  mighty  well,  said  the  priest:  pray,  landlord,  bring  me  those 
books,  for  I  have  a  mind  to  see  them.  With  all  my  heart,  answered  the 
host;  and  going  to  his  chamber,  he  brought  out  a  little  old  cloke-bag, 
with  a  padlock  and  chain  to  it,  and  opening  it,  he  took  out  three  large 
volumes,  and  some  manuscript  papers  written  in  a  fine  character.  — 
Jarvis's  Translation. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

Sir  Walter  Scott  transmitted  from  Naples,  in  February 
1832,  an  Introduction  for  Castle  Dangerous;  but  if  he 
ever  wrote  one  for  a  second  edition  of  Count  Robert  of 
Paris,  it  has  not  been  discovered  among  his  papers. 

Some  notes,  chiefly  extracts  from  the  books  which  he 
had  been  observed  to  consult  while  dictating  this  novel, 
are  now  appended  to  its  pages;  and  in  addition  to  what 
the  Author  had  given  in  the  shape  of  historical  informa- 
tion respecting  the  principal  real  persons  introduced,  the 
reader  is  here  presented  with  what  may  probably  amuse 
him,  the  passage  of  The  Alexiad  in  which  Anna  Com- 
nena  describes  the  incident  which  originally,  no  doubt, 
determined  Sir  Walter's  choice  of  a  hero. 

^May,  A.D.  1097.  —  As  for  the  multitude  of  those  who 
advanced  towards  the  great  city,  let  it  be  enough  to 
say  that  they  were  as  the  stars  in  the  heaven,  or  as  the 
sand  upon  the  sea-shore.  They  were,  in  the  words  of 
Homer,  as  many  as  the  leaves  and  flowers  of  spring. 
But  for  the  names  of  the  leaders,  though  they  are  pres- 
ent in  my  memory,  I  will  not  relate  them.  The  num- 
bers of  these  would  alone  deter  me,  even  if  my  language 
furnished  the  means  of  expressing  their  barbarous 
sounds;  and  for  what  purpose  should  I  afflict  my  readers 
with  a  long  enumeration  of  the  names  of  those  whose 
visible  presence  gave  so  much  horror  to  all  that  beheld 
them?  As  soon,  therefore,  as  they  approached  the  Great 
City,  they  occupied  the  station  appointed  for  them  by 
the  Emperor,  near  to  the  monastery  of  Cosmidius.  But 

ix 


ADVERTISEMENT 

this  multitude  were  not,  like  the  Hellenic  one  of  old, 
to  be  restrained  and  governed  by  the  loud  voices  of  nine 
heralds:  they  required  the  constant  superintendence  of 
chosen  and  valiant  soldiers  to  keep  them  from  violating 
the  commands  of  the  Emperor. 

'  He,  meantime,  laboured  to  obtain  from  the  other 
leaders  that  acknowledgment  of  his  supreme  authority 
which  had  already  been  drawn  from  Godfrey  [TovTocppe] 
himself.  But,  notwithstanding  the  willingness  of  some 
to  accede  to  this  proposal,  and  their  assistance  in  working 
on  the  minds  of  their  associates,  the  Emperor's  endeav- 
ours had  Httle  success,  as  the  majority  were  looking 
for  the  arrival  of  Bohemund  [BacfiovvTO<i],  in  whom 
they  placed  their  chief  confidence,  and  resorted  to  every 
art  with  the  view  of  gaining  time.  The  Emperor,  whom 
it  was  not  easy  to  deceive,  penetrated  their  motives; 
and  by  granting  to  one  powerful  person  demands  which 
had  been  supposed  out  of  all  bounds  of  expectation,  and 
by  resorting  to  a  variety  of  other  devices,  he  at  length 
prevailed,  and  won  general  assent  to  the  following  of  the 
example  of  Godfrey,  who  also  was  sent  for  in  person  to 
assist  in  this  business. 

'AH,  therefore,  being  assembled,  and  Godfrey  among 
them,  the  oath  was  taken;  but  when  all  was  finished,  a 
certain  noble  among  these  counts  had  the  audacity  to 
seat  himself  on  the  throne  of  the  Emperor.  [ToX/iT^cra? 
Tt?  airb  TrdvTCOv  twv  KOfitjrcov  ev'yevrjf  et?  tov  a-Ki/Ji'TroBa  tov 
Bao-iXeco?  iKcidiaev.]  The  Emperor  restrained  himself  and 
said  nothing,  for  he  was  well  acquainted  of  old  with  the 
nature  of  the  Latins.  But  the  Count  Baldwin  [BaXSoyt- 
vo<i],  stepping  forth  and  seizing  him  by  the  hand, 
dragged  him  thence,  and  with  many  reproaches  said,  "  It 


ADVERTISEMENT 

becomes  thee  not  to  do  such  things  here,  especially  after 
having  taken  the  oath  of  fealty  [SovXeiav  viroaxofievo)]. 
It  is  not  the  custom  of  the  Roman  emperors  to  permit 
any  of  their  inferiors  to  sit  beside  them,  not  even  of  such 
as  are  born  subjects  of  their  empire;  and  it  is  necessary 
to  respect  the  customs  of  the  country."  But  he,  answer- 
ing nothing  to  Baldwin,  stared  yet  more  fixedly  upon 
the  Emperor,  and  muttered  to  himself  something  in  his 
own  dialect,  which,  being  interpreted,  was  to  this  effect 
— "  Behold,  what  rustic  fellow  [x(opirrj<;]  is  this,  to  be 
seated  alone  while  such  leaders  stand  around  him ! "  The 
movement  of  his  lips  did  not  escape  the  Emperor,  who 
called  to  him  one  that  understood  the  Latin  dialect,  and 
inquired  what  words  the  man  had  spoken.  When  he 
heard  them,  the  Emperor  said  nothing  to  the  other  Lat- 
ins, but  kept  the  thing  to  himself.  When,  however,  the 
business  was  all  over,  he  called  near  to  him  by  himself 
that  swelling  and  shameless  Latin  [vylrrjXocppova  eKelvov 
Kal  avaiSr]],  and  asked  of  him,  who  he  was,  of  what 
lineage,  and  from  what  region  he  had  come.  "  I  am  a 
Frank,"  said  he,  "  of  pure  blood,  of  the  nobles.  One 
thing  I  know,  that,  where  three  roads  meet  in  the  place 
from  which  I  came,  there  is  an  ancient  church,  in  which 
whosover  has  the  desire  to  measure  himself  against  an- 
other in  single  combat  prays  God  to  help  him  therein, 
and  afterwards  abides  the  coming  of  one  willing  to  en- 
counter him.  At  that  spot  long  time  did  I  remain,  but 
the  man  bold  enough  to  stand  against  me  I  found  not." 
Hearing  these  words,  the  Emperor  said,  "If  hitherto 
thou  hast  sought  battles  in  vain,  the  time  is  at  hand 
which  will  furnish  thee  with  abundance  of  them.  And 
I  advise  thee  to  place  thyself  neither  before  the  phalanx 

xi 


ADVERTISEMENT 

nor  in  its  rear,  but  to  stand  fast  in  the  midst  of  thy  fel- 
low-soldiers; for  of  old  time  I  am  well  acquainted  with 
the  warfare  of  the  Turks."  With  such  advice  he  dis- 
missed not  only  this  man,  but  the  rest  of  those  who 
were  about  to  depart  on  that  expedition.'  —  Alexiad, 
Book  X,  pp.  237,  238. 

Ducange,  as  is  mentioned  in  the  novel,  identifies  the 
church  thus  described  by  the  Crusader  with  that  of 
Our  Lady  of  Soissons,  of  which  a  French  poet  of  the 
days  of  Louis  VII  says  — 

Veiller  y  vont  encor  li  pelerin, 

Cil  qui  bataille  veulent  fere  et  foumir. 

Ducange  in  Alexiad,  p.  86. 

The  Princess  Anna  Comnena,  it  may  be  proper  to 
observe,  was  born  on  the  first  of  December  a.d.  1083, 
and  was  consequently  in  her  fifteenth  year  when  the 
chiefs  of  the  first  crusade  made  their  appearance  in  her 
father's  court.  Even  then,  however,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  she  might  have  been  the  wife  of  Nicephorus  Brien- 
nius,  whom,  many  years  after  his  death,  she  speaks  of 
in  her  history  as  tov  ifiov  Kaiaapa,  and  in  other  terms 
equally  affectionate.  The  bitterness  with  which  she 
uniformly  mentions  Bohemund  Count  of  Tarentum, 
afterwards  Prince  of  Antioch,  has,  however,  been  as- 
cribed to  a  disappointment  in  love;  and  on  one  re- 
markable occasion  the  princess  certainly  expressed  great 
contempt  of  her  husband.  I  am  aware  of  no  other  au- 
thorities for  the  liberties  taken  with  this  lady's  conjugal 
character  in  the  novel. 

Her  husband,  Nicephorus  Briennius,  was  the  grand- 
son of  the  person  of  that  name  who  figures  in  history  as 

xii 


ADVERTISEMENT 

the  rival,  in  a  contest  for  the  imperial  throne,  of  Nice- 
phorus  Botoniates.  He  was,  on  his  marriage  with  Anna 
Comnena,  invested  with  the  rank  of  panhypersehastos, 
or  omnium  augustissimus;  but  Alexius  deeply  offended 
him  by  afterwards  recognising  the  superior  and  simpler 
dignity  of  a  sebastos.  His  eminent  qualities,  both  in  peace 
and  war,  are  acknowledged  by  Gibbon;  and  he  has  left 
us  four  books  of  Memoirs,  detailing  the  early  part  of 
his  father-in-law's  history,  and  valuable  as  being  the 
work  of  an  eye-witness  of  the  most  important  events 
which  he  describes.  Anna  Comnena  appears  to  have 
considered  it  her  duty  to  take  up  the  task  which  her 
husband  had  not  lived  to  complete;  and  hence  TJte 
Alexiad  —  certainly,  with  all  its  defects,  the  first  his- 
torical work  that  has  as  yet  proceeded  from  a  female 
pen. 

'The  life  of  the  Emperor  Alexius,  says  Gibbon,  has 
been  delineated  by  the  pen  of  a  favourite  daughter, 
who  was  inspired  by  tender  regard  for  his  person  and 
a  laudable  zeal  to  perpetuate  his  virtues.  Conscious  of 
the  just  suspicion  of  her  readers,  the  Princess  repeatedly 
protests  that,  besides  her  personal  knowledge,  she  had 
searched  the  discourse  and  writings  of  the  most  respect- 
able veterans ;  and  that,  after  an  interval  of  thirty  years, 
forgotten  by,  and  forgetful  of,  the  world,  her  mournful 
solitude  was  inaccessible  to  hope  and  fear;  that  truth, 
the  naked,  perfect  truth,  was  more  dear  than  the  memory 
of  her  parent.  Yet,  instead  of  the  simplicity  of  style 
and  narrative  which  wins  our  belief,  an  elaborate  af- 
fectation of  rhetoric  and  science  betrays  in  every  page  the 
vanity  of  a  female  author.  The  genuine  character  of 
Alexius  is  lost  in  a  vague  constellation  of  virtues;  and 

xiii 


ADVERTISEMENT 

the  perpetual  strain  of  panegyric  and  apology  awakens 
our  jealousy  to  question  the  veracity  of  the  historian 
and  the  merit  of  her  hero.  We  cannot,  however,  refuse 
her  judicious  and  important  remark,  that  the  disorders 
of  the  times  were  the  misfortune  and  the  glory  of 
Alexius;  and  that  every  calamity  which  can  aiSict  a  de- 
chning  empire  was  accumulated  on  his  reign  by  the 
justice  of  Heaven  and  the  vices  of  his  predecessors.  In 
the  east,  the  victorious  Turks  had  spread,  from  Persia  to 
the  Hellespont,  the  reign  of  the  Koran  and  the  Crescent; 
the  west  was  invaded  by  the  adventurous  valour  of  the 
Normans;  and,  in  the  moments  of  peace,  the  Danube 
poured  forth  new  swarms,  who  had  gained  in  the  science 
of  war  what  they  had  lost  in  the  ferociousness  of  their 
manners.  The  sea  was  not  less  hostile  than  the  land; 
and,  while  the  frontiers  were  assaulted  by  an  open 
enemy,  the  palace  was  distracted  with  secret  conspiracy 
and  treason. 

'On  a  sudden,  the  banner  of  the  Cross  was  displayed 
by  the  Latins;  Europe  was  precipitated  on  Asia;  and 
Constantinople  had  almost  been  swept  away  by  this 
impetuous  deluge.  In  the  tempest  Alexius  steered  the 
imperial  vessel  with  dexterity  and  courage.  At  the  head 
of  his  armies,  he  was  bold  in  action,  skilful  in  stratagem, 
patient  of  fatigue,  ready  to  improve  his  advantages,  and 
rising  from  his  defeats  with  inexhaustible  vigour.  The 
discipHne  of  the  camp  was  reversed,  and  a  new  genera- 
tion of  men  and  soldiers  was  created  by  the  precepts 
and  example  of  their  leader.  In  his  intercourse  with  the 
Latins,  Alexius  was  patient  and  artful;  his  discerning 
eye  pervaded  the  new  system  of  an  unknown  world.  . . . 

'The  increase  of  the  male  and  female  branches  of  his 

xiv 


ADVERTISEMENT 

family  adorned  the  throne  and  secured  the  succession; 
but  their  princely  luxury  and  pride  offended  the  patri- 
cians, exhausted  the  revenue,  and  insulted  the  misery  of 
the  people.  Anna  is  a  faithful  witness  that  his  happiness 
was  destroyed,  and  his  health  broken,  by  the  cares  of 
a  public  life;  the  patience  of  Constantinople  was  fatigued 
by  the  length  and  severity  of  his  reign;  and  before  Alex- 
ius expired,  he  had  lost  the  love  and  reverence  of  his 
subjects.  The  clergy  could  not  forgive  his  application  of 
the  sacred  riches  to  the  defence  of  the  state;  but  they 
applauded  his  theological  learning  and  ardent  zeal  for 
the  orthodox  faith,  which  he  defended  with  his  tongue, 
his  pen,  and  his  sword.  .  .  .  Even  the  sincerity  of  his 
moral  and  religious  virtues  was  suspected  by  the  per- 
sons who  had  passed  their  lives  in  his  confidence.  In  his 
last  hours,  when  he  was  pressed  by  his  wife  Irene  to  alter 
the  succession,  he  raised  his  head  and  breathed  a  pious 
ejaculation  on  the  vanity  of  the  world.  The  indignant 
reply  of  the  Empress  may  be  inscribed  as  an  epitaph 
on  his  tomb  —  "  You  die  as  you  have  lived  —  a  hypo- 
crite." 

*  It  was  the  wish  of  Irene  to  supplant  the  eldest  of  her 
sons  in  favour  of  her  daughter,  the  Princess  Anna,  whose 
philosophy  would  not  have  refused  the  weight  of  a  dia- 
dem. But  the  order  of  male  succession  was  asserted  by 
the  friends  of  their  country;  the  lawful  heir  drew  the 
royal  signet  from  the  finger  of  his  insensible  or  conscious 
father,  and  the  empire  obeyed  the  master  of  the  palace. 
Anna  Comnena  was  stimulated  by  ambition  and  revenge 
to  conspire  against  the  life  of  her  brother;  and  when  the 
design  was  prevented  by  the  fears  or  scruples  of  her 
husband,  she  passionately  exclaimed  that  nature  had 

XV 


ADVERTISEMENT 

mistaken  the  two  sexes,  and  had  endowed  Bryennius 
with  the  soul  of  a  woman.  .  .  .  After  the  discovery  of 
her  treason,  the  life  and  fortune  of  Anna  were  justly 
forfeited  to  the  laws.  Her  life  was  spared  by  the  clem- 
ency of  the  emperor ;  but  he  visited  the  pomp  and  treas- 
ures of  her  palace,  and  bestowed  the  rich  confiscation 
on  the  most  deserving  of  his  friends.'  — History  of  the 
Decline  and  Fall  of  tlte  Roman  Empire,  chap.  XLvin. 

The  year  of  Anna's  death  is  nowhere  recorded.  She 
appears  to  have  written  The  Alexiad  in  a  convent;  and 
to  have  spent  nearly  thirty  years  in  this  retirement  be- 
fore her  book  was  published. 

For  accurate  particulars  of  the  public  events  touched 
on  in  Count  Robert  of  Paris,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the 
above  quoted  author,  chapters  xlviii,  xlix,  and  l,  and 
to  the  first  volume  of  Mills's  History  of  the  Crusades. 

J.  G.  L. 

London,  ist  March  1833. 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 
JEDEDIAH  CLEISHBOTHAM,  M.A./ 

TO  THE  LOVING  READER  WISHETH  HEALTH  AND  PROSPERITY 

It  would  ill  become  me,  whose  name  has  been  spread 
abroad  by  those  former  collections,  bearing  this  title 
of  Tales  of  my  Landlord,  and  who  have,  by  the  candid 
voice  of  a  numerous  crowd  of  readers,  been  taught  to 
think  that  I  merit  not  the  empty  fame  alone,  but  also 
the  more  substantial  rewards,  of  successful  pencraft 
—  it  would,  I  say,  ill  become  me  to  suffer  this,  my 
youngest  literary  babe,  and  probably  at  the  same  time 
the  last  child  of  mine  old  age,  to  pass  into  the  world 
without  some  such  modest  apology  for  its  defects  as  it 
has  been  my  custom  to  put  forth  on  preceding  occasions 
of  the  like  nature.  The  world  has  been  sufficiently  in- 
structed, of  a  truth,  that  I  am  not  individually  the  per- 
son to  whom  is  to  be  ascribed  the  actual  inventing  or 
designing  of  the  scheme  upon  which  these  Tales,  which 
men  have  found  so  pleasing,  were  originally  constructed; 
as  also  that  neither  am  I  the  actual  workman  who,  fur- 
nished by  a  skilful  architect  with  an  accurate  plan,  in- 
cluding elevations  and  directions  both  general  and 
particular,  has  from  thence  toiled  to  bring  forth  and 
complete  the  intended  shape  and  proportion  of  each 
division  of  the  edifice.  Nevertheless,  I  have  been  indis- 
putably the  man  who,  in  placing  my  name  at  the  head 
of  the  undertaking,  have  rendered  myself  mainly  and 
principally  responsible  for  its  general  success.    When 

xvii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

a  ship  of  war  goeth  forth  to  battle  with  her  crew,  con- 
sisting of  sundry  foremast-men  and  various  officers,  such 
subordinate  persons  are  not  said  to  gain  or  lose  the  ves- 
sel which  they  had  manned  or  attacked,  although  each 
was  natheless  sufficiently  active  in  his  own  department; 
but  it  is  forthwith  bruited  and  noised  abroad,  without 
further  phrase,  that  Captain  Jedediah  Cleishbotham, 
hath  lost  such  a  seventy-four,  or  won  that  which,  by  the 
united  exertions  of  all  thereto  pertaining,  is  taken  from 
the  enemy.  In  the  same  manner,  shame  and  sorrow  it 
were  if  I,  the  voluntary  captain  and  founder  of  these 
adventures,  after  having  upon  three  divers  occasions 
assumed  to  myself  the  emoluments  and  reputation 
thereof,  should  now  withdraw  myself  from  the  risks  of 
failure  proper  to  this  fourth  and  last  outgoing.  No!  I 
will  rather  address  my  associates  in  this  bottom  with 
the  constant  spirit  of  Matthew  Prior's  heroine: 

Did  I  but  purpose  to  embark  with  thee 
On  the  smooth  surface  of  some  summer  sea, 
But  would  forsake  the  waves,  and  make  the  shore, 
When  the  winds  whistle,  and  the  billows  roar? 

As  little,  nevertheless,  would  it  become  my  years  and 
station  not  to  admit  without  cavil  certain  errors  which 
may  justly  be  pointed  out  in  these  concluding  Tales  of 
my  Landlord  —  the  last,  and,  it  is  manifest,  never  care- 
fully revised  or  corrected,  handiwork  of  Mr.  Peter 
Pattieson,  now  no  more;  the  same  worthy  young  man 
so  repeatedly  mentioned  in  these  Introductory  Essays, 
and  never  without  that  tribute  to  his  good  sense  and 
talents,  nay,  even  genius,  which  his  contributions  to 
this  my  undertaking  fairly  entitled  him  to  claim  at  the 
hands  of  his  surviving  friend  and  patron.   These  pages, 

xviii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

I  have  said,  were  the  uUimus  labor  of  mine  ingenious 
assistant;  but  I  say  not,  as  the  great  Dr.  Pitcairne  of  his 
hero,  uUimus  atque  optimus.  Alas !  even  the  giddiness  at- 
tendant on  a  journey  on  this  Manchester  railroad  is  not 
so  perilous  to  the  nerves  as  that  too  frequent  exercise 
in  the  merry-go-round  of  the  ideal  world,  whereof  the 
tendency  to  render  the  fancy  confused  and  the  judg- 
ment inert  hath  in  all  ages  been  noted,  not  only  by  the 
erudite  of  the  earth,  but  even  by  many  of  the  thick- 
witted  Ofelli  themselves;  whether  the  rapid  pace  at 
which  the  fancy  moveth  in  such  exercitations,  where  the 
wish  of  the  penman  is  to  him  like  Prince  Houssain's 
tapestry,  in  the  Eastern  fable,  be  the  chief  source  of 
peril,  or  whether,  without  reference  to  this  wearing 
speed  of  movement,  the  dwelling  habitually  in  those 
realms  of  imagination  be  as  little  suited  for  a  man's  in- 
tellect as  to  breathe  for  any  considerable  space  'the 
difficult  air  of  the  mountain  top '  is  to  the  physical  struc- 
ture of  his  outward  frame,  this  question  belongeth  not 
to  me-;  but  certain  it  is,  that  we  often  discover  in  the 
works  of  the  foremost  of  this  order  of  men  marks  of  be- 
wilderment and  confusion,  such  as  do  not  so  frequently 
occur  in  those  of  persons  to  whom  nature  hath  conceded 
fancy  weaker  of  wing  or  less  ambitious  in  flight. 

It  is  affecting  to  see  the  great  Miguel  Cervantes 
himself,  even  like  the  sons  of  meaner  men,  defending 
himself  against  the  critics  of  the  day,  who  assailed  him 
upon  such  little  discrepancies  and  inaccuracies  as  are 
apt  to  cloud  the  progress  even  of  a  mind  like  his,  when 
the  evening  is  closing  around  it. 

*It  is  quite  a  common  thing,'  says  Don  Quixote,  'for 
men  who  have  gained  a  very  great  reputation  by  their 

xix 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

writings  before  they  were  printed  quite  to  lose  it  after- 
wards, or,  at  least,  the  greater  part.'  'The  reason  is 
plain,'  answers  the  Bachelor  Carrasco;  'their  faults  are 
more  easily  discovered  after  the  books  are  printed,  as 
being  then  more  read,  and  more  narrowly  examined, 
especially  if  the  author  has  been  much  cried  up  before, 
for  then  the  severity  of  the  scrutiny  is  sure  to  be  the 
greater.  Those  who  have  raised  themselves  a  name  by 
their  own  ingenuity,  great  poets  and  celebrated  his- 
torians, are  commonly,  if  not  always,  envied  by  a  set 
of  men  who  delight  in  censuring  the  writings  of  others, 
though  they  could  never  produce  any  of  their  own.' 
*That  is  no  wonder,'  quoth  Don  Quixote;  'there  are 
many  divines  that  would  make  but  very  dull  preachers, 
and  yet  are  quick  enough  at  finding  faults  and  super- 
fluities in  other  men's  sermons.'  'All  this  is  true,'  says 
Carrasco,  'and  therefore  I  could  wish  such  censurers 
would  be  more  merciful  and  less  scrupulous,  and  not 
dwell  ungenerously  upon  small  spots  that  are  in  a  manner 
but  so  many  atoms  on  the  face  of  the  clear  sun  they 
murmur  at.  If  aliquando  dormitat  Eomerus,  let  them 
consider  how  many  nights  he  kept  himself  awake  to 
bring  his  noble  works  to  light  as  little  darkened  with 
defects  as  might  be.  But,  indeed,  it  may  many  times 
happen  that  what  is  censured  for  a  fault  is  rather  an 
ornament,  as  moles  often  add  to  the  beauty  of  a  face. 
When  all  is  said,  he  that  publishes  a  book  runs  a  great 
risk,  since  nothing  can  be  so  unlikely  as  that  he  should 
have  composed  one  capable  of  securing  the  approba- 
tion of  every  reader.'  'Sure,'  said  Don  Quixote,  'that 
which  treats  of  me  can  have  pleased  but  few?'  'Quite 
the   contrary,'    says    Carrasco;    'for   as    infinitus   est 

XX 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

numerus  stultorum,  so  an  infinite  number  have  admired 
your  history.  Only  some  there  are  who  have  taxed  the 
author  with  want  of  memory  or  sincerity,  because  he 
forgot  to  give  an  account  who  it  was  that  stole  Sancho's 
Dapple,  for  that  particular  is  not  mentioned  there,  only 
we  find,  by  the  story,  that  it  was  stolen;  and  yet,  by  and 
by,  we  find  him  riding  the  same  ass  again,  without  any 
previous  light  given  us  into  the  matter.  Then  they  say 
that  the  author  forgot  to  tell  the  reader  what  Sancho 
did  with  the  hundred  pieces  of  gold  he  found  in  the 
portmanteau  in  the  Sierra  Morena,  for  there  is  not  a  word 
said  of  them  more ;  and  many  people  have  a  great  mind 
to  know  what  he  did  with  them,  and  how  he  spent  them; 
which  is  one  of  the  most  material  points  in  which  the 
work  is  defective,' 

How  amusingly  Sancho  is  made  to  clear  up  the  ob- 
scurities thus  alluded  to  by  the  Bachelor  Carrasco  no 
reader  can  have  forgotten;  but  there  remained  enough  of 
similar  lacuncB,  inadvertencies,  and  mistakes  to  exer- 
cise the  ingenuity  of  those  Spanish  critics  who  were  too 
wise  in  their  own  conceit  to  profit  by  the  good-natured 
and  modest  apology  of  this  immortal  author. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  if  Cervantes  had  deigned 
to  use  it,  he  might  have  pleaded  also  the  apology  of 
indifferent  health,  under  which  he  certainly  laboured 
while  finishing  the  second  part  of  Don  Quixote.  It  must 
be  too  obvious  that  the  intervals  of  such  a  malady  as  then 
affected  Cervantes  could  not  be  the  most  favourable 
in  the  world  for  revising  lighter  compositions,  and  cor- 
recting, at  least,  those  grosser  errors  and  imperfections 
which  each  author  should,  if  it  were  but  for  shame's  sake, 
remove  from  his  work,  before  bringing  it  forth  into  the 

xxi 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

broad  light  of  day,  where  they  will  never  fail  to  be 
distinctly  seen,  nor  lack  ingenious  persons  who  will  be 
too  happy  in  discharging  the  office  of  pointing  them 
out. 

It  is  more  than  time  to  explain  with  what  purpose  we 
have  called  thus  fully  to  memory  the  many  venial  errors 
of  the  inimitable  Cervantes,  and  those  passages  in 
which  he  has  rather  defied  his  adversaries  than  pleaded 
his  own  justification;  for  I  suppose  it  wiU  be  readily 
granted  that  the  difference  is  too  wide  betwixt  that  great 
wit  of  Spain  and  ourselves  to  permit  us  to  use  a  buckler 
which  was  rendered  sufficiently  formidable  only  by  the 
strenuous  hand  in  which  it  was  placed. 

The  history  of  my  first  pubHcations  is  sufficiently 
well  known.  Nor  did  I  relinquish  the  purpose  of  con- 
cluding these  Tales  of  my  Landlord,  which  had  been  so 
remarkably  fortunate;  but  death,  which  steals  upon  us 
all  with  an  inaudible  foot,  cut  short  the  ingenious  young 
man  to  whose  memory  I  composed  that  inscription,  and 
erected,  at  my  own  charge,  that  monument  which  pro- 
tects his  remains,  by  the  side  of  the  river  Gander,  which 
he  has  contributed  so  much  to  render  immortal,  and  in 
a  place  of  his  own  selection,  not  very  distant  from  the 
school  under  my  care.^  In  a  word,  the  ingenious  Mr. 
Pattieson  was  removed  from  his  place. 

Nor  did  I  confine  my  care  to  his  posthumous  fame 
alone,  but  carefully  inventoried  and  preserved  the  effects 
which  he  left  behind  him,  namely,  the  contents  of  his 
small  wardrobe,  and  a  number  of  printed  books  of 
somewhat  more  consequence,  together  with  certain  woe- 

*  See  Old  Mortality,  vol.  i,  p.  289,  Note  i,  for  some  circumstances 
attending  this  erection. 

xxii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

fully  blurred  manuscripts  discovered  in  his  repository. 
On  looking  these  over,  I  found  them  to  contain  two 
tales  called  Count  Robert  of  Paris  and  Castle  Dangerous; 
but  was  seriously  disappointed  to  perceive  that  they  were 
by  no  means  in  that  state  of  correctness  which  would 
induce  an  experienced  person  to  pronounce  any  writing, 
in  the  technical  language  of  bookcraft,  'prepared  for 
press.'  There  were  not  only  hiatus  valde  deflendi,  but 
even  grievous  inconsistencies,  and  other  mistakes, 
which  the  penman's  leisurely  revision,  had  he  been 
spared  to  bestow  it,  would  doubtless  have  cleared  away. 
After  a  considerate  perusal,  I  no  question  flattered  my- 
self that  these  manuscripts,  with  all  their  faults,  con- 
tained here  and  there  passages  which  seemed  plainly 
to  intimate  that  severe  indisposition  had  been  imable 
to  extinguish  altogether  the  brilliancy  of  that  fancy 
which  the  world  had  been  pleased  to  acknowledge  in 
the  creations  of  Old  Mortality,  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor, 
and  others  of  these  narratives.  But  I,  nevertheless, 
threw  the  manuscripts  into  my  drawer,  resolving  not 
to  think  of  committing  them  to  the  Ballantynian  or- 
deal until  I  could  either  obtain  the  assistance  of  some 
capable  person  to  supply  deficiencies  and  correct  errors, 
so  as  they  might  face  the  public  with  credit,  or  per- 
haps numerous  and  more  serious  avocations  might 
permit  me  to  dedicate  my  own  time  and  labour  to  that 
task. 

While  I  was  in  this  uncertainty,  I  had  a  visit  from  a 
stranger,  who  was  announced  as  a  young  gentleman 
desirous  of  speaking  with  me  on  particular  business. 
I  immediately  augured  the  accession  of  a  new  boarder, 
but  was  at  once  checked  by  observing  that  the  outward 

xxiii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

man  of  the  stranger  was,  in  a  most  remarkable  degree, 
what  mine  host  of  the  Sir  WiUiam  Wallace,  in  his  phrase- 
ology calls  'seedy.'  His  black  coat  had  seen  service; 
the  waistcoat  of  grey  plaid  bore  yet  stronger  marks  of 
having  encountered  more  than  one  campaign;  his  third 
piece  of  dress  was  an  absolute  veteran  compared  to  the 
others;  his  shoes  were  so  loaded  with  mud  as  showed  his 
journey  must  have  been  pedestrian;  and  a  grey  'maud,' 
which  fluttered  around  his  wasted  limbs,  completed 
such  an  equipment  as,  since  Juvenal's  days,  has  been  the 
livery  of  the  poor  scholar.  I  therefore  concluded  that 
I  beheld  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  office  of  usher,  and 
prepared  to  listen  to  his  proposals  with  the  dignity  be- 
coming my  station;  but  what  was  my  surprise  when  I 
found  I  had  before  me,  in  this  rusty  student,  no  less  a 
man  than  Paul,  the  brother  of  Peter  Pattieson,  come 
to  gather  in  his  brother's  succession,  and  possessed,  it 
seemed,  with  no  small  idea  of  the  value  of  that  part  of  it 
which  consisted  in  the  productions  of  his  pen. 

By  the  rapid  study  I  made  of  him,  this  Paul  was  a 
sharp  lad,  imbued  with  some  tincture  of  letters,  like  his 
regretted  brother,  but  totally  destitute  of  those  amiable 
qualities  which  had  often  induced  me  to  say  within  my- 
self that  Peter  was,  like  the  famous  John  Gay  — 

In  wit  a  man,  simplicity  a  child. 

He  set  little  by  the  legacy  of  my  deceased  assistant's 
wardrobe,  nor  did  the  books  hold  much  greater  value  in 
his  eyes;  but  he  peremptorily  demanded  to  be  put  in 
possession  of  the  manuscripts,  alleging,  with  obstinacy, 
that  no  definite  bargain  had  been  completed  between  his 
late  brother  and  me,  and  at  length  produced  the  opinion 

xxiv 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

to  that  effect  of  a  writer,  or  man  of  business  —  a  class  of 
persons  with  whom  I  have  always  chosen  to  have  as  little 
concern  as  possible. 

But  I  had  one  defence  left,  which  came  to  my  aid, 
tanquam  deus  ex  machind.  This  rapacious  Paul  Pattie- 
son  could  not  pretend  to  wrest  the  disputed  manuscripts 
out  of  my  possession,  unless  upon  repayment  of  a  con- 
siderable sum  of  money,  which  I  had  advanced  from 
time  to  time  to  the  deceased  Peter,  and  particularly  to 
purchase  a  small  annuity  for  his  aged  mother.  These 
advances,  with  the  charges  of  the  funeral  and  other  ex- 
penses, amounted  to  a  considerable  sum,  which  the  pov- 
erty-struck student  and  his  acute  legal  adviser  equally 
foresaw  great  difficulty  in  liquidating.  The  said  Mr. 
Paul  Pattieson,  therefore,  listened  to  a  suggestion, 
which  I  dropped  as  if  by  accident,  that,  if  he  thought 
himself  capable  of  filling  his  brother's  place  of  carrying 
the  work  through  the  press,  I  would  make  him  welcome 
to  bed  and  board  within  my  mansion  while  he  was  thus 
engaged,  only  requiring  his  occasional  assistance  at 
hearing  the  more  advanced  scholars.  This  seemed  to 
promise  a  close  of  our  dispute  alike  satisfactory  to  all 
parties,  and  the  first  act  of  Paul  was  to  draw  on  me  for 
a  round  sum,  under  pretence  that  his  wardrobe  must  be 
wholly  refitted.  To  this  I  made  no  objection,  though  it 
certainly  showed  like  vanity  to  purchase  garments  in  the 
extremity  of  the  mode,  when  not  only  great  part  of  the 
defunct's  habiliments  were  very  fit  for  a  twelvemonth's 
use,  but,  as  I  myself  had  been,  but  yesterday  as  it  were, 
equipped  in  a  becoming  new  stand  of  black  clothes, 
Mr.  Pattieson  would  have  been  welcome  to  the  use  of 
such  of  my  quondam  raiment  as  he  thought  suitable, 

XXV 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

as  indeed  had  always  been  the  case  with  his  deceased 
brother. 

The  school,  I  must  needs  say,  came  tolerably  on.  My 
youngster  was  very  smart,  and  seemed  to  be  so  active 
in  his  duty  of  usher,  if  I  may  so  speak,  that  he  even 
overdid  his  part  therein,  and  I  began  to  feel  myself  a 
cipher  in  my  own  school. 

I  comforted  myself  with  the  behef  that  the  publication 
was  advancing  as  fast  as  I  could  desire.  On  this  subject 
Paul  Pattieson,  like  ancient  Pistol,  'talked  bold  words 
at  the  bridge,'  and  that  not  only  at  our  house,  but  in  the 
society  of  our  neighbours,  amongst  whom,  instead  of 
imitating  the  retired  and  monastic  manner  of  his  brother 
deceased,  he  became  a  gay  visitor,  and  such  a  reveller, 
that  in  process  of  time  he  was  observed  to  vilipend  the 
modest  fare  which  had  at  first  been  esteemed  a  banquet 
by  his  hungry  appetite,  and  thereby  highly  displeased 
my  wife,  who,  with  justice,  applauds  herself  for  the  plen- 
tiful, cleanly,  and  healthy  victuals  wherewith  she  main- 
tains her  ushers  and  boarders. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  rather  hoped  than  entertained  a 
sincere  confidence  that  all  was  going  on  well,  and  was  in 
that  unpleasant  state  of  mind  which  precedes  the  open 
breach  between  two  associates  who  have  been  long  jeal- 
ous of  each  other,  but  are  as  yet  deterred  by  a  sense  of 
mutual  interest  from  coming  to  an  open  rupture. 

The  first  thing  which  alarmed  me  was  a  rumour  in 
the  village  that  Paul  Pattieson  intended,  in  some  Httle 
space,  to  undertake  a  voyage  to  the  Continent  —  on 
account  of  his  health,  as  was  pretended,  but,  as  the 
same  report  averred,  much  more  with  the  view  of  grati- 
fying the  curiosity  which  his  perusal  of  the  classics  had 

xxvi 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

impressed  upon  him  than  for  any  other  purpose.  I  was, 
I  say,  rather  alarmed  at  this  susurrus,  and  began  to  re- 
flect that  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Pattieson,  unless  his 
loss  could  be  supplied  in  good  time,  was  like  to  be  a  blow 
to  the  estabhshment;  for,  in  truth,  this  Paul  had  a  win- 
ning way  with  the  boys,  especially  those  who  were 
gentle- tempered;  so  that  I  must  confess  my  doubts 
whether,  in  certain  respects,  I  myself  could  have  fully 
supplied  his  place  in  the  school,  with  all  my  authority 
and  experience.  My  wife,  jealous,  as  became  her  station, 
of  Mr.  Pattieson's  intentions,  advised  me  to  take  the 
matter  up  immediately,  and  go  to  the  bottom  at  once; 
and,  indeed,  I  had  always  found  that  way  answered  best 
with  my  boys. 

Mrs.  Cleishbotham  was  not  long  before  renewing  the 
subject;  for,  like  most  of  the  race  of  Xantippe,  though 
my  helpmate  is  a  well-spoken  woman,  she  loves  to  thrust 
in  her  oar  where  she  is  not  able  to  pull  it  to  purpose. 
'You  are  a  sharp-witted  man,  Mr.  Cleishbotham,' 
would  she  observe,  'and  a  learned  man,  Mr.  Cleish- 
botham, and  the  schoolmaster  of  Gandercleuch,  Mr. 
Cleishbotham,  which  is  saying  all  in  one  word;  but 
many  a  man  almost  as  great  as  yourself  has  lost  the 
saddle  by  suffering  an  inferior  to  get  up  behind  him; 
and  though  with  the  world,  Mr.  Cleishbotham,  you 
have  the  name  of  doing  everything,  both  in  directing 
the  school  and  in  this  new  profitable  book  line  which 
you  have  taken  up,  yet  it  begins  to  be  the  common 
talk  of  Gandercleuch,  both  up  the  water  and  down  the 
water,  that  the  usher  both  writes  the  dominie's  books 
and  teaches  the  dominie's  school.  Ay  —  ay,  ask  maid, 
wife,  or  widow,  and  she  '11  tell  ye  the  least  gaitling  among 

xxvii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

them  all  comes  to  Paul  Pattieson  with  his  lesson  as 
naturally  as  they  come  to  me  for  their  four  hours,  puir 
things;  and  never  ane  thinks  of  applying  to  you  aboot 
a  kittle  turn,  or  a  crabbed  word,  or  about  onything 
else,  unless  it  were  for  licet  exire,  or  the  mending  of  an 
auld  pen.' 

Now,  this  address  assailed  me  on  a  summer  evening, 
when  I  was  whiling  away  my  leisure  hours  with  the  end 
of  a  cutty-pipe,  and  indulging  in  such  bland  imaginations 
as  the  nicotian  weed  is  wont  to  produce,  more  especially 
in  the  case  of  studious  persons,  devoted  musis  severio- 
ribus.  I  was  naturally  loth  to  leave  my  misty  sanctu- 
ary; and  endeavoured  to  silence  the  clamour  of  Mrs. 
Cleishbotham's  tongue,  which  has  something  in  it 
peculiarly  shrill  and  penetrating.  *  Woman,'  said  I, 
with  a  tone  of  domestic  authority  befitting  the  occasion, 
'res  tuas  agas  —  mind  your  washings  and  your  wring- 
ings,  your  stuffings  and  your  physicking,  or  whatever 
concerns  the  outward  person  of  the  pupils,  and  leave 
the  progress  of  their  education  to  my  usher,  Paul  Pattie- 
son, and  myself.' 

*I  am  glad  to  see,'  added  the  accursed  woman  (that  I 
should  say  so!),  'that  ye  have  the  grace  to  name  him 
foremost,  for  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  ranks  first 
of  the  troop,  if  ye  wad  but  hear  what  the  neighbours 
speak  —  or  whisper.' 

'What  do  they  whisper,  thou  sworn  sister  of  the  Eu- 
menides?'  cried  I,  the  irritating  oestrum  of  the  woman's 
objurgation  totally  counterbalancing  the  sedative  effects 
both  of  pipe  and  pot. 

'Whisper!'  resumed  she  in  her  shrillest  note.  'Why, 
they  wliisper  loud  enough  for  me,  at  least,  to  hear  them, 

xxviii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

that  the  schoolmaster  of  Gandercleuch  is  turned  a 
doited  auld  woman,  and  spends  all  his  time  in  tippling 
strong  drink  with  the  keeper  of  the  public-house,  and 
leaves  school  and  book-making,  and  a'  the  rest  o't,  to 
the  care  of  his  usher;  and,  also,  the  wives  in  Gandercleuch 
say,  that  you  have  engaged  Paul  Pattieson  to  write  a 
new  book,  which  is  to  beat  a'  the  lave  that  gaed  afore 
it;  and,  to  show  what  a  sair  lift  you  have  o'  the  job,  you 
didna  sae  muckle  as  ken  the  name  o't  —  no,  nor  whether 
it  was  to  be  about  some  heathen  Greek  or  the  Black 
Douglas.' 

This  was  said  with  such  bitterness  that  it  penetrated 
to  the  very  quick,  and  I  hurled  the  poor  old  pipe,  like  one 
of  Homer's  spears,  not  in  the  face  of  my  provoking 
helpmate,  though  the  temptation  was  strong,  but  into 
the  river  Gander,  which,  as  is  now  well  known  to  tour- 
ists from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  pursues  its 
quiet  meanders  beneath  the  bank  on  which  the  school- 
house  is  pleasantly  situated ;  and,  starting  up,  fixed  on  my 
head  the  cocked  hat  (the  pride  of  Messrs.  Grieve  and 
Scott's  repository),  and  plunging  into  the  valley  of  the 
brook,  pursued  my  way  upwards,  the  voice  of  Mrs. 
Cleishbotham  accompanying  me  in  my  retreat  with 
something  like  the  angry  scream  of  triumph  with  which 
the  brood-goose  pursues  the  flight  of  some  unmannerly 
cur  or  idle  boy  who  has  intruded  upon  her  premises,  and 
fled  before  her.  Indeed,  so  great  was  the  influence  of 
this  clamour  of  scorn  and  wrath  which  hung  upon  my 
rear,  that,  while  it  rung  in  my  ears,  I  was  so  moved  that 
I  instinctively  tucked  the  skirts  of  my  black  coat  under 
my  arm,  as  if  I  had  been  in  actual  danger  of  being  seized 
on  by  tlie  grasp  of  the  pursuing  enemy.   Nor  was  it  till 

xxix 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

I  had  almost  reached  the  well-known  burial-place,  in 
which  it  was  Peter  Pattieson's  hap  to  meet  the  far- 
famed  personage  called  Old  Mortality,  that  I  made  a 
halt  for  the  purpose  of  composing  my  perturbed  spirits, 
and  considering  what  was  to  be  done;  for  as  yet  my  mind 
was  agitated  by  a  chaos  of  passions,  of  which  anger  was 
predominant;  and  for  what  reason,  or  against  whom, 
I  entertained  such  timaultuous  displeasure,  it  was  not 
easy  for  me  to  determine. 

Nevertheless,  having  settled  my  cocked  hat  with  be- 
coming  accuracy  on  my  well-powdered  wig,  and  suffered 
it  to  remain  uplifted  for  a  moment  to  cool  my  flushed 
brow,  having,  moreover,  readjusted  and  shaken  to  rights 
the  skirts  of  my  black  coat,  I  came  into  case  to  answer 
to  my  own  questions,  which,  till  these  manoeuvres  had 
been  sedately  accomplished,  I  might  have  asked  myself 
in  vain. 

In  the  first  place,  therefore,  to  use  the  phrase  of  Mr. 
Docket,  the  writer  (that  is,  the  attorney)  of  our  village 
of  Gander cleuch,  I  became  satisfied  that  my  anger  was 
directed  against  all  and  sundry,  or,  in  law  Latin,  contra 
omnes  mortales,  and  more  particularly  against  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Gandercleuch,  for  circulating  reports  to  the 
prejudice  of  my  literary  talents,  as  well  as  my  accom- 
plishments as  a  pedagogue,  and  transferring  the  fame 
thereof  to  mine  own  usher.  Secondly,  against  my  spouse, 
Dorothea  Cleishbotham,  for  transferring  the  said  ca- 
lumnious reports  to  my  ears  in  a  prerupt  and  unseemly 
manner,  and  without  due  respect  either  to  the  language 
which  she  made  use  of  or  the  person  to  whom  she  spoke, 
treating  affairs  in  which  I  was  so  intimately  concerned  as 
if  they  were  proper  subjects  for  jest  among  gossips  at  a 

XXX 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

christening,  where  the  womankind  claim  the  privilege 
of  worshipping  the  Bona  Dea  according  to  their  secret 
female  rites.  Thirdly,  I  became  clear  that  I  was  entitled 
to  respond  to  any  whom  it  concerned  to  inquire,  that  my 
wrath  was  kindled  against  Paul  Pattieson,  my  usher,  for 
giving  occasion  both  for  the  neighbours  of  Gandercleuch 
entertaining  such  opinions  and  for  Mrs.  Cleishbotham 
disrespectfully  urging  them  to  my  face,  since  neither  cir- 
cumstance could  have  existed  without  he  had  put  forth 
sinful  misrepresentations  of  transactions  private  and  con- 
fidential, and  of  which  I  had  myself  entirely  refrained 
from  dropping  any  the  least  hint  to  any  third  person. 

This  arrangement  of  my  ideas  having  contributed  to 
soothe  the  stormy  atmosphere  of  which  they  had  been 
the  offspring  gave  reason  a  time  to  predominate,  and  to 
ask  me,  with  her  calm  but  clear  voice,  whether,  under  all 
the  circumstances,  I  did  well  to  nourish  so  indiscriminate 
an  indignation?  In  fine,  on  closer  examination,  the  vari- 
ous splenetic  thoughts  I  had  been  indulging  against 
other  parties  began  to  be  merged  in  that  resentment 
against  my  perfidious  usher  which,  like  the  serpent  of 
Moses,  swallowed  up  all  subordinate  objects  of  dis- 
pleasure. To  put  myself  at  open  feud  with  the  whole  of 
my  neighbours,  unless  I  had  been  certain  of  some  effec- 
tual mode  of  avenging  myself  upon  them,  would  have 
been  an  imdertaking  too  weighty  for  my  means,  and  not 
unlikely,  if  rashly  grappled  withal,  to  end  in  my  ruin. 
To  make  a  public  quarrel  with  my  wife,  on  such  an  ac- 
count as  her  opinion  of  my  literary  accomplishments, 
would  sound  ridiculous;  and,  besides,  Mrs.  C.  was  sure 
to  have  all  the  women  on  her  side,  who  would  represent 
her  as  a  wife  persecuted  by  her  husband  for  offering  him 

xxxi 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

good  advice,  and  urging  it  upon  him  with  only  too 
enthusiastic  sincerity. 

There  remained  Paul  Pattieson,  undoubtedly,  the 
most  natural  and  proper  object  of  my  indignation,  since 
I  might  be  said  to  have  him  in  my  own  power,  and  might 
punish  him  by  dismissal,  at  my  pleasure.  Yet  even  vin- 
dictive proceedings  against  the  said  Paul,  however  easy 
to  be  enforced,  might  be  productive  of  serious  conse- 
quences to  my  own  purse;  and  I  began  to  reflect,  with 
anxiety,  that  in  this  world  it  is  not  often  that  the  gratifi- 
cation of  our  angry  passions  lies  in  the  same  road  with 
the  advancement  of  our  interest,  and  that  the  wise  man, 
the  vere  sapiens,  seldom  hesitates  which  of  these  two  he 
ought  to  prefer. 

I  recollected  also  that  I  was  quite  uncertain  how  far 
the  present  usher  had  really  been  guilty  of  the  foul  acts 
of  assumption  charged  against  him. 

In  a  word,  I  began  to  perceive  that  it  would  be  no  light 
matter,  at  once,  and  without  maturer  perpending  of 
sundry  collateral  punctiuncula,  to  break  up  a  joint-stock 
adventure,  or  society,  as  civilians  term  it,  which,  if  prof- 
itable to  him,  had  at  least  promised  to  be  no  less  so  to 
me,  established  in  years  and  learning  and  reputation  so 
much  his  superior.  Moved  by  which,  and  other  the  like 
considerations,  I  resolved  to  proceed  with  becoming 
caution  on  the  occasion,  and  not,  by  stating  my  causes 
of  complaint  too  hastily  in  the  outset,  exasperate  into  a 
positive  breach  what  might  only  prove  some  small  mis- 
understanding, easily  explained  or  apologised  for,  and 
which,  like  a  leak  in  a  new  vessel,  being  once  discovered 
and  carefully  stopped,  renders  the  vessel  but  more  sea- 
worthy than  it  was  before. 

xxxii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

About  the  time  that  I  had  adopted  this  healing  reso- 
lution, I  reached  the  spot  where  the  almost  perpendicular 
face  of  a  steep  hill  seems  to  terminate  the  valley,  or  at 
least  divides  it  into  two  dells,  each  serving  as  a  cradle  to 
its  own  mountain-stream,  the  Gruff  quack,  namely,  and 
the  shallower  but  more  noisy  Gusedub,  on  the  left  hand, 
which,  at  their  union,  form  the  Gander,  properly  so 
called.  Each  of  these  little  valleys  has  a  walk  winding 
up  to  its  recesses,  rendered  more  easy  by  the  labours  of 
the  poor  during  the  late  hard  season,  and  one  of  which 
bears  the  name  of  Pattieson's  Path,  while  the  other  had 
been  kindly  consecrated  to  my  own  memory  by  the  title 
of  the  Dominie's  Daidling-bit.  Here  I  made  certain  to 
meet  my  associate,  Paul  Pattieson,  for  by  one  or  other  of 
these  roads  he  was  wont  to  return  to  my  house  of  an 
evening,  after  his  lengthened  rambles. 

Nor  was  it  long  before  I  espied  him  descending  the 
Gusedub  by  that  tortuous  path,  marking  so  strongly  the 
character  of  a  Scottish  glen.  He  was  easily  distinguished, 
indeed,  at  some  distance,  by  his  jaunty  swagger,  in 
which  he  presented  to  you  the  flat  of  his  leg,  like  the 
manly  knave  of  clubs,  apparently  with  the  most  perfect 
contentment,  not  only  with  his  leg  and  boot,  but  with 
every  part  of  his  outward  man,  and  the  whole  fashion  of 
his  garments,  and,  one  would  almost  have  thought,  the 
contents  of  his  pockets. 

In  this,  his  wonted  guise,  he  approached  me,  where  I 
was  seated  near  the  meeting  of  the  waters,  and  I  could 
not  but  discern  that  his  first  impulse  was  to  pass  me  with- 
out any  prolonged  or  formal  greeting.  But,  as  that  would 
not  have  been  decent,  considering  the  terms  on  which  we 
stood,  he  seemed  to  adopt,  on  reflection,  a  course  directly 

xxxiii 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

opposite;  bustled  up  to  me  with  an  air  of  alacrity,  and,  I 
may  add,  impudence;  and  hastened  at  once  into  the 
middle  of  the  important  affairs  which  it  had  been  my 
purpose  to  bring  under  discussion  in  a  manner  more  be- 
coming their  gravity.  'I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Cleish- 
botham,'  said  he,  with  an  inimitable  mixture  of  confu- 
sion and  effrontery; '  the  most  wonderful  news  which  has 
been  heard  in  the  literary  world  in  my  time  —  all  Gan- 
dercleuch  rings  with  it:  they  positively  speak  of  nothing 
else,  from  Miss  Buskbody's  youngest  apprentice  to  the 
minister  himself,  and  ask  each  other  in  amazement 
whether  the  tidings  are  true  or  false  —  to  be  sure  they 
are  of  an  astounding  complexion,  especially  to  you  and 
me.' 

'Mr.  Pattieson,'  said  I,  'I  am  quite  at  a  loss  to  guess 
at  your  meaning.  Davus  sum,  non  (Edipus  —  I  am  Jede- 
diah  Cieishbotham,  schoolmaster  of  the  parish  of  Gan- 
dercleuch,  no  conjurer,  and  neither  reader  of  riddles  nor 
expounder  of  enigmata.' 

'Well,'  replied  Paul  Pattieson,  'Mr.  Jedediah  Cieish- 
botham, schoolmaster  of  the  parish  of  Gandercleuch, 
and  so  forth,  all  I  have  to  inform  you  is,  that  our  hopeful 
scheme  is  entirely  blown  up.  The  tales,  on  publishing 
which  we  reckoned  with  so  much  confidence,  have  al- 
ready been  printed:  they  are  abroad,  over  all  America, 
and  the  British  papers  are  clamorous.' 

I  received  this  news  with  the  same  equanimity  with 
which  I  should  have  accepted  a  blow  addressed  to  my 
stomach  by  a  modern  gladiator,  with  the  full  energy  of 
his  fist.  'If  this  be  correct  information^  Mr.  Pattieson,' 
said  I,  'I  must  of  necessity  suspect  you  to  be  the  person 
who  have  supplied  the  foreign  press  with  the  copy  which 

xxxiv 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

the  printers  have  thus  made  an  unscrupulous  use  of, 
without  respect  to  the  rights  of  the  undeniable  proprie- 
tors of  the  manuscripts;  and  I  request  to  know  whether 
this  American  production  embraces  the  alterations 
which  you  as  well  as  I  judged  necessary,  before  the  work 
could  be  fitted  to  meet  the  public  eye?' 

To  this  my  gentleman  saw  it  necessary  to  make  a 
direct  answer,  for  my  manner  was  impressive  and  my 
tone  decisive.  His  native  audacity  enabled  him,  how- 
ever, to  keep  his  ground,  and  he  answered  with  firm- 
ness — 

'Mr.  Cleishbotham,  in  the  first  place,  these  manu- 
scripts, over  which  you  claim  a  very  doubtful  right,  were 
never  given  to  any  one  by  me,  and  must  have  been 
sent  to  America  either  by  yourself  or  by  some  one  of 
the  various  gentlemen  to  whom,  I  am  well  aware,  you 
have  afiforded  opportunities  of  perusing  my  brother's 
MS.  remains.' 

'Mr.  Pattieson,'  I  replied,  'I  beg  to  remind  you  that  it 
never  could  be  my  intention,  either  by  my  own  hands  or 
through  those  of  another,  to  remit  these  manuscripts  to 
the  press  until,  by  the  alterations  which  I  meditated, 
and  which  you  yourself  engaged  to  make,  they  were  ren- 
dered fit  for  public  perusal.' 

Mr.  Pattieson  answered  me  with  much  heat  —  '  Sir,  I 
would  have  you  to  know  that,  if  I  accepted  your  paltry 
offer,  it  was  with  less  regard  to  its  amount  than  to  the 
honour  and  literary  fame  of  my  late  brother.  I  foresaw 
that  if  I  declined  it  you  would  not  hesitate  to  throw  the 
task  into  incapable  hands,  or,  perhaps,  have  taken  it 
upon  yourself,  the  most  unfit  of  all  men  to  tamper  with 
the  works  of  departed  genius,  and  that,  God  willing,  I 

XXXV 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

was  determined  to  prevent;  but  the  justice  of  Heaven 
has  taken  the  matter  into  its  own  hands.  Peter  Pattie- 
son's  last  labours  shall  now  go  down  to  posterity  un- 
scathed by  the  scalping-knife  of  alteration  in  the  hands 
of  a  false  friend  —  shame  on  the  thought  that  the  unnat- 
ural weapon  could  ever  be  wielded  by  the  hand  of  a 
brother!' 

I  heard  this  speech  not  without  a  species  of  vertigo  or 
dizziness  in  my  head,  which  would  probably  have  struck 
me  lifeless  at  his  feet,  had  not  a  thought  like  that  of  the 

old  ballad  — 

Earl  Percy  sees  my  fall, 

called  to  my  recollection,  that  I  should  only  aflford  an 
additional  triumph  by  giving  way  to  my  feelings  in  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Paul  Pattieson,  who,  I  could  not  doubt, 
must  be  more  or  less  directly  at  the  bottom  of  the  Trans- 
atlantic publication,  and  had  in  one  way  or  another 
found  his  own  interest  in  that  nefarious  transaction. 

To  get  quit  of  his  odious  presence,  I  bid  him  an  uncere- 
monious good-night,  and  marched  down  the  glen  with 
the  air  not  of  one  who  has  parted  with  a  friend,  but  who 
rather  has  shaken  off  an  intrusive  companion.  On  the 
road  I  pondered  the  whole  matter  over  with  an  anxiety 
which  did  not  in  the  smallest  degree  tend  to  relieve  me. 
Had  I  felt  adequate  to  the  exertion,  I  might,  of  course, 
have  supplanted  this  spurious  edition  (of  which  the  liter- 
ary gazettes  are  already  doling  out  copious  specimens) 
by  introducing  into  a  copy,  to  be  instantly  published  at 
Edinburgh,  adequate  correction  of  the  various  inconsist- 
encies and  imperfections  which  have  already  been  al- 
luded to.  I  remember  the  easy  victory  of  the  real  second 
part  of  these  Tales  of  my  Landlord  over  the  performance 

xxxvi 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 

sent  forth  by  an  interloper  under  the  same  title,  and  why 
should  not  the  same  triumph  be  repeated  now?  There 
would,  in  short,  have  been  a  pride  of  talent  in  this  man- 
ner of  avenging  myself,  which  would  have  been  justifi- 
able in  the  case  of  an  injured  man ;  but  the  state  of  my 
health  has  for  some  time  been  such  as  to  render  any 
attempt  of  this  nature  in  every  way  imprudent. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  last  'Remains'  of 
Peter  Pattieson  must  even  be  accepted  as  they  were  left 
in  his  desk ;  and  I  humbly  retire  in  the  hope  that,  such 
as  they  are,  they  may  receive  the  indulgence  of  those 
who  have  ever  been  but  too  merciful  to  the  productions 
of  his  pen,  and  in  all  respects  to  the  courteous  reader's 
obliged  servant, 

J.C. 

Gandercleuch,  isth  Oct.  1831. 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 


CHAPTER  I 

Leonlius.  That  power  that  kindly  spreads 

The  clouds,  a  signal  of  impending  showers, 
To  warn  the  wandering  linnet  to  the  shade, 
Beheld  without  concern  expiring  Greece, 
And  not  one  prodigy  foretold  our  fate. 

Demetrius.  A  thousand  horrid  prodigies  foretold  it: 
A  feeble  government,  eluded  laws, 
A  factious  populace,  luxurious  nobles. 
And  all  the  maladies  of  sinking  states. 
When  public  villainy,  too  strong  for  justice. 
Shows  his  bold  front,  the  harbinger  of  ruin, 
Can  brave  Leontius  call  for  airy  wonders. 
Which  cheats  interpret,  and  which  fools  regard? 

Irene,  Act  I.  .' 

The  close  observers  of  vegetable  nature  have  remarked 
that,  when  a  new  graft  is  taken  from  an  aged  tree,  it 
possesses  indeed  in  exterior  form  the  appearance  of  a 
youthful  shoot,  but  has  in  fact  attained  to  the  same  state 
of  maturity,  or  even  decay,  which  has  been  reached  by 
the  parent  stem.  Hence,  it  is  said,  arises  the  general 
decline  and  death  that  about  the  same  season  is  often 
observed  to  spread  itself  through  individual  trees  of  some 
particular  species,  all  of  which,  deriving  their  vital 
powers  from  the  parent  stock,  are  therefore  incapable  of 
protracting  their  existence  longer  than  it  does. 

In  the  same  manner,  efforts  have  been  made  by  the 
mighty  of  the  earth  to  transplant  large  cities,  states,  and 
communities  by  one  great  and  sudden  exertion,  expect- 
ing to  secure  to  the  new  capital  the  wealth,  the  dignity, 
the  magnificent  decorations  and  unlimited  extent  of  the 

43  I 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ancient  city  which  they  desire  to  renovate;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  they  hope  to  begin  a  new  succession  of  ages 
from  the  date  of  the  new  structure,  to  last,  they  imagine, 
as  long,  and  with  as  much  fame,  as  its  predecessor,  which 
the  founder  hopes  his  new  metropolis  may  replace  in  all 
its  youthful  glories.  But  nature  has  her  laws,  which  seem 
to  apply  to  the  social  as  well  as  the  vegetable  system.  It 
appears  to  be  a  general  rule  that  what  is  to  last  long 
should  be  slowly  matured  and  gradually  improved,  while 
every  sudden  effort,  however  gigantic,  to  bring  about 
the  speedy  execution  of  a  plan  calculated  to  endure  for 
ages  is  doomed  to  exhibit  symptoms  of  premature  decay 
from  its  very  commencement.  Thus,  in  a  beautiful 
Oriental  tale,  a  dervise  explains  to  the  sultan  how  he  had 
reared  the  magnificent  trees  among  which  they  walked 
by  nursing  their  shoots  from  the  seed;  and  the  prince's 
pride  is  damped  when  he  reflects  that  those  plantations, 
so  simply  raised,  were  gathering  new  vigour  from  each 
returning  sun,  while  his  own  exhausted  cedars,  which 
had  been  transplanted  by  one  violent  effort,  were  droop- 
ing their  majestic  heads  in  the  Valley  of  Orez.^ 

It  has  been  allowed,  I  believe,  by  all  men  of  taste, 
many  of  whom  have  been  late  visitants  of  Constanti- 
nople, that,  if  it  were  possible  to  survey  the  whole  globe 
with  a  view  to  fixing  a  seat  of  universal  empire,  all  who 
are  capable  of  making  such  a  choice  would  give  their 
preference  to  the  city  of  Constantine,  as  including  the 
great  recommendations  of  beauty,  wealth,  security,  and 
eminence.  Yet,  with  all  these  advantages  of  situation 
and  climate,  and  with  all  the  architectural  splendour  of 
its  churches  and  halls,  its  quarries  of  marble,  and  its 
1  Tale  of  'Mirglip  the  Persian,'  in  the  Tales  of  the  Genii. 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS  j 

treasure-houses  of  gold,  the  imperial  founder  must  him- 
self have  learned  that,  although  he  could  employ  all 
these  rich  materials  in  obedience  to  his  own  wish,  it  was 
the  mind  of  man  itself,  those  intellectual  faculties  refined 
by  the  ancients  to  the  highest  degree,  which  had  pro- 
duced the  specimens  of  talent  at  which  men  paused  and 
wondered,  whether  as  subjects  of  art  or  of  moral  labour. 
The  power  of  the  Emperor  might  indeed  strip  other  cities 
of  their  statues  and  their  shrines,  in  order  to  decorate 
that  which  he  had  fixed  upon  as  his  new  capital ;  but  the 
men  who  had  performed  great  actions,  and  those,  almost 
equally  esteemed,  by  whom  such  deeds  were  celebrated, 
in  poetry,  in  painting,  and  in  music,  had  ceased  to  exist. 
The  nation,  though  still  the  most  civilised  in  the  world, 
had  passed  beyond  that  period  of  society  when  the  desire 
of  fair  fame  is  of  itself  the  sole  or  chief  motive  for  the 
labour  of  the  historian  or  the  poet,  the  painter  or  the 
statuary.  The  slavish  and  despotic  constitution  intro- 
duced into  the  empire  had  long  since  entirely  destroyed 
that  pubHc  spirit  which  animated  the  free  history  of 
Rome,  leaving  nothing  but  feeble  recollections,  which 
produced  no  emulation. 

To  speak  as  of  an  animated  substance,  if  Constantine 
could  have  regenerated  his  new  metropolis,  by  trans- 
fusing into  it  the  vital  and  vivifying  principles  of  old 
Rome,  that  brilliant  spark  no  longer  remained  for 
Constantinople  to  borrow  or  for  Rome  to  lend. 

In  one  most  important  circumstance,  the  state  of  the 
capital  of  Constantine  had  been  totally  changed,  and 
unspeakably  to  its  advantage.  The  world  was  now 
Christian,  and,  with  the  pagan  code,  had  got  rid  of  its 
load  of  disgraceful  superstition.   Nor  is  there  the  least 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

doubt  that  the  better  faith  produced  its  natural  and 
desirable  fruits  in  society,  in  gradually  ameliorating  the 
hearts  and  taming  the  passions  of  the  people.  But  while 
many  of  the  converts  were  turning  meekly  towards  their 
new  creed,  some,  in  the  arrogance  of  their  understanding, 
were  limiting  the  Scriptures  by  their  own  devices,  and 
others  failed  not  to  make  religious  character  or  spiritual 
rank  the  means  of  rising  to  temporal  power.  Thus  it 
happened  at  this  critical  period  that  the  effects  of  this 
great  change  in  the  rehgion  of  the  country,  although  pro- 
ducing an  immediate  harvest,  as  well  as  sowing  much 
good  seed  which  was  to  grow  hereafter,  did  not,  in  the 
fourth  century,  flourish  so  as  to  shed  at  once  that  pre- 
dominating influence  which  its  principles  might  have 
taught  men  to  expect. 

Even  the  borrowed  splendour  in  which  Constantine 
decked  his  city  bore  in  it  something  which  seemed  to 
mark  premature  decay.  The  imperial  founder,  in  seizing 
upon  the  ancient  statues,  pictures,  obelisks,  and  works  of 
art,  acknowledged  his  own  incapacity  to  supply  their 
place  with  the  productions  of  later  genius;  and  when  the 
world,  and  particularly  Rome,  was  plundered  to  adorn 
Constantinople,  the  Emperor,  under  whom  the  work  was 
carried  on,  might  be  compared  to  a  prodigal  youth,  who 
strips  an  aged  parent  of  her  youthful  ornaments,  in  order 
to  decorate  a  flaunting  paramour,  on  whose  brow  all 
must  consider  them  as  misplaced. 

Constantinople,  therefore,  when  in  324  it  first  arose  in 
imperial  majesty  out  of  the  humble  Byzantium,  showed, 
even  in  its  birth,  and  amid  its  adventitious  splendour,  as 
we  have  already  said,  some  intimations  of  that  speedy 
decay  to  which  the  whole  civilised  world,  then  limited 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

within  the  Roman  empire,  was  internally  and  imper- 
ceptibly tending.  Nor  was  it  many  ages  ere  these  prog- 
nostications of  declension  were  fully  verified. 

In  the  year  1080  Alexius  Comnenus^  ascended  the 
throne  of  the  Empire  —  that  is,  he  was  declared  sover- 
eign of  Constantinople,  its  precincts  and  dependencies; 
nor,  if  he  was  disposed  to  lead  a  life  of  relaxation,  would 
the  savage  incursions  of  the  Scythians  or  the  Hunga- 
rians frequently  disturb  the  imperial  slumbers,  if  limited 
to  his  own  capital.  It  may  be  supposed  that  this  safety 
did  not  extend  much  further;  for  it  is  said  that  the  Em- 
press Pulcheria  had  built  a  church  to  the  Virgin  Mary  as 
remote  as  possible  from  the  gate  of  the  city,  to  save  her 
devotions  from  the  risk  of  being  interrupted  by  the  hos- 
tile yell  of  the  barbarians,  and  the  reigning  emperor  had 
constructed  a  palace  near  the  same  spot,  and  for  the 
same  reason. 

Alexius  Comnenus  was  in  the  condition  of  a  monarch 
who  rather  derives  consequence  from  the  wealth  and 
importance  of  his  predecessors,  and  the  great  extent  of 
their  original  dominions,  than  from  what  remnants  of 
fortune  had  descended  to  the  present  generation.  This 
emperor,  except  nominally,  no  more  ruled  over  his  dis- 
membered provinces  than  a  half-dead  horse  can  exercise 
power  over  those  limbs  on  which  the  hooded  crow  and 
the  vulture  have  already  begun  to  settle  and  select  their 
prey. 

In  different  parts  of  his  territory  different  enemies 
arose,  who  waged  successful  or  dubious  war  against  the 
Emperor;  and  of  the  mmierous  nations  with  whom  he 

*  See  Gibbon,  chap.  XLViii,  for  the  origin  and  early  history  of  the 
house  of  the  Comneni. 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

was  engaged  in  hostilities,  whether  the  Franks  from  the 
west,  the  Turks  advancing  from  the  east,  the  Cumans 
and  Scythians  pouring  their  barbarous  numbers  and 
unceasing  storm  of  arrows  from  the  north,  and  the  Sara- 
cens, or  the  tribes  into  which  they  were  divided,  pressing 
from  the  south,  there  was  not  one  for  whom  the  Grecian 
empire  did  not  spread  a  tempting  repast.  Each  of  these 
various  enemies  had  their  own  particular  habits  of  war, 
and  a  way  of  manoeuvring  in  battle  pecuUar  to  them- 
selves. But  the  Roman,  as  the  unfortunate  subject  of  the 
Greek  empire  was  still  called,  was  by  far  the  weakest,  the 
most  ignorant,  and  most  timid  who  could  be  dragged 
into  the  field;  and  the  Emperor  was  happy  in  his  own 
good  luck  when  he  found  it  possible  to  conduct  a  defen- 
sive war  on  a  counterbalancing  principle,  making  use  of 
the  Scythian  to  repel  the  Turk,  or  of  both  these  savage 
peoples  to  drive  back  the  fiery-footed  Frank,  whom  Peter 
the  Hermit  had,  in  the  time  of  Alexius,  waked  to  double 
fury  by  the  powerful  influence  of  the  crusades. 

If,  therefore,  Alexius  Comnenus  was,  during  his 
anxious  seat  upon  the  throne  of  the  East,  reduced  to  use 
a  base  and  truckling  course  of  pohcy,  if  he  was  some- 
times reluctant  to  fight  when  he  had  a  conscious  doubt 
of  the  valour  of  his  troops,  if  he  commonly  employed 
cunning  and  dissimulation  instead  of  wisdom,  and  per- 
fidy instead  of  courage,  his  expedients  were  the  disgrace 
of  the  age  rather  than  his  own. 

Again,  the  Emperor  Alexius  may  be  blamed  for  affect- 
ing a  degree  of  state  which  was  closely  allied  to  imbe- 
cility. He  was  proud  of  assuming  in  his  own  person,  and 
of  bestowing  upon  others,  the  painted  show  of  various 
orders  of  nobility,  even  now,  when  the  rank  within  the 

6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

prince's  gift  was  become  an  additional  reason  for  the  free 
barbarian  despising  the  imperial  noble.  That  the  Greek 
court  was  encumbered  with  unmeaning  ceremonies,  in 
order  to  make  amends  for  the  want  of  that  veneration 
which  ought  to  have  been  called  forth  by  real  worth  and 
the  presence  of  actual  power,  was  not  the  particular 
fault  of  that  prince,  but  belonged  to  the  system  of  the 
government  of  Constantinople  for  ages.  Indeed,  in  its 
trumpery  etiquette,  which  provided  rules  for  the  most 
trivial  points  of  a  man's  behaviour  during  the  day,  the 
Greek  Empire  resembled  no  existing  power  in  its  minute 
folhes  except  that  of  Pekin;  both,  doubtless,  being  in- 
fluenced by  the  same  vain  wish  to  add  seriousness  and 
an  appearance  of  importance  to  objects  which,  from 
their  trivial  nature,  could  admit  no  such  distinction. 

Yet  thus  far  we  must  justify  Alexius,  that,  humble  as 
were  the  expedients  he  had  recourse  to,  they  were  more 
useful  to  his  empire  than  the  measures  of  a  more  proud 
and  high-spirited  prince  might  have  proved  in  the  same 
circumstances.  He  was  no  champion  to  break  a  lance 
against  the  breastplate  of  his  Frankish  rival,  the  famous 
Bohemond  of  Antioch,^  but  there  were  many  occasions 
on  which  he  hazarded  his  life  freely;  and,  so  far  as  we 
can  see  from  a  minute  perusal  of  his  achievements,  the 
Emperor  of  Greece  was  never  so  dangerous  'under 
shield'  as  when  any  foeman  desired  to  stop  him  while 
retreating  from  a  conflict  in  which  he  had  been  worsted. 
But,  besides  that  he  did  not  hesitate,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  time,  at  least  occasionally,  to  commit 
his  person  to  the  perils  of  close  combat,  Alexius  also 
possessed  such  knowledge  of  a  general's  profession  as  is 

*  See  Note  i. 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

required  in  our  modern  days.  He  knew  how  to  occupy 
military  positions  to  the  best  advantage,  and  often  cov- 
ered defeats,  or  improved  dubious  conflicts,  in  a  manner 
highly  to  the  disappointment  of  those  who  deemed  that 
the  work  of  war  was  done  only  on  the  field  of  battle. 

If  Alexius  Comnenus  thus  understood  the  evolutions 
of  war,  he  was  still  better  skilled  in  those  of  politics, 
where,  soaring  far  above  the  express  purpose  of  his 
immediate  negotiation,  the  Emperor  was  sure  to  gain 
some  important  and  permanent  advantage;  though  very 
often  he  was  ultimately  defeated  by  the  unblushing 
fickleness  or  avowed  treachery  of  the  barbarians,  as  the 
Greeks  generally  termed  all  other  nations,  and  particu- 
larly those  tribes  (they  can  hardly  be  termed  states)  by 
which  their  own  empire  was  surrounded. 

We  may  conclude  our  brief  character  of  Comnenus  by 
saying  that,  had  he  not  been  called  on  to  fill  the  station 
of  a  monarch  who  was  under  the  necessity  of  making 
himself  dreaded,  as  one  who  was  exposed  to  all  manner 
of  conspiracies,  both  in  and  out  of  his  own  family,  he 
might,  in  all  probability,  have  been  regarded  as  an 
honest  and  humane  prince.  Certainly  he  showed  him- 
self a  good-natured  man,  and  dealt  less  in  cutting  off 
heads  and  extinguishing  eyes  than  had  been  the  prac- 
tice of  his  predecessors,  who  generally  took  this  method 
of  shortening  the  ambitious  views  of  competitors. 

It  remains  to  be  mentioned,  that  Alexius  had  his  full 
share  of  the  superstition  of  the  age,  which  he  covered 
with  a  species  of  hypocrisy.  It  is  even  said  that  his  wife, 
Irene,  who,  of  course,  was  best  acquainted  with  the  real 
character  of  the  Emperor,  taxed  her  dying  husband  with 
practising,  in  his  last  moments,  the  dissimulation  which 

8 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

had  been  his  companion  during  lifc.^  He  took  also  a 
deep  interest  in  all  matters  respecting  the  church,  where 
heresy,  which  the  Emperor  held,  or  affected  to  hold,  in 
great  horror,  appeared  to  him  to  lurk.  Nor  do  we  dis- 
cover in  his  treatment  of  the  Manichaeans  or  Paulicians 
that  pity  for  their  speculative  errors  which  modern 
times  might  think  had  been  well  purchased  by  the  extent 
of  the  temporal  services  of  these  unfortunate  sectaries. 
Alexius  knew  no  indulgence  for  those  who  misinter- 
preted the  mysteries  of  the  church  or  of  its  doctrines; 
and  the  duty  of  defending  religion  against  schismatics 
was,  in  his  opinion,  as  peremptorily  demanded  from  him 
as  that  of  protecting  the  empire  against  the  numberless 
tribes  of  barbarians  who  were  encroaching  on  its  bound- 
aries on  every  side. 

Such  a  mixture  of  sense  and  weakness,  of  meanness 
and  dignity,  of  prudent  discretion  and  poverty  of  spirit, 
which  last,  in  the  European  mode  of  viewing  things,  ap- 
proached to  cowardice,  formed  the  leading  traits  of  the 
character  of  Alexius  Comnenus,  at  a  period  when  the 
fate  of  Greece,  and  all  that  was  left  in  that  country  of  art 
and  civilisation,  was  trembling  in  the  balance,  and  likely 
to  be  saved  or  lost  according  to  the  abilities  of  the 
Emperor  for  playing  the  very  difficult  game  which  was 
put  into  his  hands. 

These  few  leading  circumstances  will  recall,  to  any 
one  who  is  tolerably  well  read  in  history,  the  peculi- 
arities of  the  period  at  which  we  have  found  a  resting- 
place  for  the  foundation  of  our  story. 

^  See  Gibbon,  chap.  LVi. 


CHAPTER  II 

Olhus.  This  superb  successor 

Of  the  earth's  mistress,  as  thou  vainly  speakest. 
Stands  midst  these  ages  as,  on  the  wide  ocean, 
The  last  spared  fragment  of  a  spacious  land, 
That  in  some  grand  and  awful  ministration 
Of  mighty  nature  has  engulfed  been, 
Doth  lift  aloft  its  dark  and  rocky  cliffs 
O'er  the  wild  waste  around,  and  sadly  frowns 
In  lonely  majesty. 

Constantine  Paleologus,  Scene  I. 

Our  scene  in  the  capital  of  the  Eastern  Empire  opens 
at  what  is  termed  the  Golden  Gate  of  Constantinople; 
and  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  that  this  splendid  epi- 
thet is  not  so  Ughtly  bestowed  as  may  be  expected  from 
the  inflated  language  of  the  Greeks,  which  throws  such 
an  appearance  of  exaggeration  about  them,  their  build- 
ings, and  monuments. 

The  massive,  and  seemingly  impregnable  walls,  with 
which  Constantine  surrounded  the  city  were  greatly 
improved  and  added  to  by  Theodosius,  called  the  Great. 
A  triumphal  arch,  decorated  with  the  architecture  of  a 
better,  though  already  a  degenerate,  age,  and  serving, 
at  the  same  time,  as  a  useful  entrance,  introduced  the 
stranger  into  the  city.  On  the  top,  a  statue  of  bronze  rep- 
resented Victory,  the  goddess  who  had  inclined  the 
scales  of  battle  in  favour  of  Theodosius;  and,  as  the 
artist  determined  to  be  wealthy  if  he  could  not  be  taste- 
ful, the  gilded  ornaments  with  which  the  inscriptions 
were  set  off  readily  led  to  the  popular  name  of  the  gate. 
Figures  carved  in  a  distant  and  happier  period  of  the 
art  glanced  from  the  walls,  without  assorting  happily 

lO 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

with  the  taste  in  which  these  were  built.  The  more  mod- 
ern ornaments  of  the  Golden  Gate  bore,  at  the  period  of 
our  story,  an  aspect  very  different  from  those  indicating 
the  'conquest  brought  back  to  the  city'  and  'the  eter- 
nal peace,'  which  the  flattering  inscriptions  recorded 
as  having  been  extorted  by  the  sword  of  Theodosius. 
Four  or  five  military  engines,  for  throwing  darts  of  the 
largest  size,  were  placed  upon  the  summit  of  the  arch; 
and  what  had  been  originally  designed  as  a  specimen  of 
architectural  embellishment  was  now  applied  to  the 
purposes  of  defence. 

It  was  the  hour  of  evening,  and  the  cool  and  refresh- 
ing breeze  from  the  sea  inclined  each  passenger,  whose 
business  was  not  of  a  very  urgent  description,  to  loiter 
on  his  way,  and  cast  a  glance  at  the  romantic  gateway, 
and  the  various  interesting  objects  of  nature  and  art 
which  the  city  of  Constantinople  presented,  as  well  to 
the  inhabitants  as  to  strangers.^ 

One  individual,  however,  seemed  to  indulge  more 
wonder  and  curiosity  than  could  have  been  expected 
from  a  native  of  the  city,  and  looked  upon  the  rarities 
around  with  a  quick  and  startled  eye,  that  marked  an 
imagination  awakened  by  sights  that  were  new  and 
strange.  The  appearance  of  this  person  bespoke  a 
foreigner  of  miHtary  habits,  who  seemed,  from  his  com- 
plexion, to  have  his  birthplace  far  from  the  Grecian 
metropolis,  whatever  chance  had  at  present  brought 
him  to  the  Golden  Gate,  or  whatever  place  he  filled  in 
the  Emperor's  service. 

This  young  man  was  about  two-and- twenty  years 
old,  remarkably  finely-formed  and  athletic  —  qualities 

^  See  Note  2. 
II 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

well  understood  by  the  citizens  of  Constantinople,  whose 
habits  of  frequenting  the  public  games  had  taught  them 
at  least  an  acquaintance  with  the  human  person,  and 
where,  in  the  select  of  their  own  countrymen,  they  saw 
the  handsomest  specimens  of  the  human  race. 

These  were,  however,  not  generally  so  tall  as  the 
stranger  at  the  Golden  Gate,  while  his  piercing  blue  eyes, 
and  the  fair  hair  which  descended  from  under  a  light  hel- 
met gaily  ornamented  with  silver,  bearing  on  its  summit 
a  crest  resembling  a  dragon  in  the  act  of  expanding  its 
terrible  jaws,  intimated  a  Northern  descent,  to  which 
the  extreme  purity  of  his  complexion  also  bore  witness. 
His  beauty,  however,  though  he  was  eminently  distin- 
guished both  in  features  and  in  person,  was  not  liable 
to  the  charge  of  effeminacy.  From  this  it  was  rescued 
both  by  his  strength  and  by  the  air  of  confidence  and  self- 
possession  with  which  the  youth  seemed  to  regard  the 
wonders  around  him,  not  indicating  the  stupid  and  help- 
less gaze  of  a  mind  equally  inexperienced  and  incapable 
of  receiving  instruction,  but  expressing  the  bold  intellect 
which  at  once  understands  the  greater  part  of  the  in- 
formation which  it  receives,  and  commands  the  spirit 
to  toil  in  search  of  the  meaning  of  that  which  it  has  not 
comprehended,  or  may  fear  it  has  misinterpreted.  This 
look  of  awakened  attention  and  intelligence  gave  inter- 
est to  the  young  barbarian;  and  while  the  bystanders 
were  amazed  that  a  savage  from  some  unknown  or  re- 
mote corner  of  the  universe  should  possess  a  noble  coun- 
tenance bespeaking  a  mind  so  elevated,  they  respected 
him  for  the  composure  with  which  he  witnessed  so  many 
things,  the  fashion,  the  splendour,  nay,  the  very  use,  of 
which  must  have  been  recently  new  to  him. 

12, 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

The  young  man's  personal  equipments  exhibited  a  sin- 
gular mixture  of  splendour  and  effeminacy,  and  en- 
abled the  experienced  spectators  to  ascertain  his  nation, 
and  the  capacity  in  which  he  served.  We  have  already 
mentioned  the  fanciful  and  crested  helmet  which  was 
a  distinction  of  the  foreigner,  to  which  the  reader  must 
add  in  his  imagination  a  small  cuirass  or  breastplate  of 
silver,  so  sparingly  fashioned  as  obviously  to  aflford  Httle 
security  to  the  broad  chest,  on  which  it  rather  hung  like 
an  ornament  than  covered  as  a  buckler;  nor,  if  a  well- 
thrown  dart  or  strongly-shod  arrow  should  alight  full  on 
this  rich  piece  of  armour,  was  there  much  hope  that  it 
could  protect  the  bosom  which  it  partially  shielded. 

From  betwixt  the  shoulders  hung  down  over  the  back 
what  had  the  appearance  of  a  bearskin ;  but,  when  more 
closely  examined,  it  was  only  a  very  skilful  imitation 
of  the  spoils  of  the  chase,  being  in  reality  a  surcoat  com- 
posed of  strong  shaggy  silk,  so  woven  as  to  exhibit,  at  a 
little  distance,  no  inaccurate  representation  of  a  bear's 
hide.  A  light  crooked  sword,  or  scimitar,  sheathed  in  a 
scabbard  of  gold  and  ivory,  hung  by  the  left  side  of  the 
stranger,  the  ornamented  hilt  of  which  appeared  much 
too  small  for  the  large-jointed  hand  of  the  young  Her- 
cules who  was  thus  gaily  attired.  A  dress,  purple  in  colour 
and  sitting  close  to  the  limbs,  covered  the  body  of  the 
soldier  to  a  little  above  the  knee;  from  thence  the  knees 
and  legs  were  bare  to  the  calf,  to  which  the  reticulated 
strings  of  the  sandals  rose  from  the  instep,  the  ligatures 
being  there  fixed  by  a  golden  coin  of  the  reigning  emperor, 
converted  into  a  species  of  clasp  for  the  purpose. 

Bu  t  a  weapon  which  seemed  more  particularly  adapted 
to  the  young  barbarian's  size,  and  incapable  of  being 

13 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

used  by  a  man  of  less  formidable  limbs  and  sinews, 
was  a  battle-axe,  the  firm  iron-guarded  staff  of  which 
was  formed  of  tough  elm,  strongly  inlaid  and  defended 
with  brass,  while  many  a  plate  and  ring  were  indented 
in  the  handle,  to  hold  the  wood  and  the  steel  parts  to- 
gether. The  axe  itself  was  composed  of  two  blades,  turn- 
ing different  ways,  with  a  sharp  steel  spike  projecting 
from  between  them.  The  steel  part,  both  spike  and 
blade,  was  burnished  as  bright  as  a  mirror;  and  though 
its  ponderous  size  must  have  been  burdensome  to  one 
weaker  than  himself,  yet  the  young  soldier  carried  it 
as  carelessly  along  as  if  it  were  but  a  feather's  weight. 
It  was,  indeed,  a  skilfully  constructed  weapon,  so  well 
balanced,  that  it  was  much  lighter  in  striking  and  in 
recovery  than  he  who  saw  it  in  the  hands  of  another 
could  easily  have  believed. 

The  carrying  arms  of  itself  showed  that  the  military 
man  was  a  stranger.  The  native  Greeks  had  that  mark 
of  a  civilised  people,  that  they  never  bore  weapons 
during  the  time  of  peace,  unless  the  wearer  chanced  to 
be  numbered  among  those  whose  military  profession  and 
emplo3rment  required  them  to  be  always  in  arms.  Such 
soldiers  by  profession  were  easily  distinguished  from  the 
peaceful  citizens;  and  it  was  with  some  evident  show 
of  fear,  as  well  as  dislike,  that  the  passengers  observed 
to  each  other  that  the  stranger  was  a  Varangian,  an 
expression  which  intimated  a  barbarian  of  the  imperial 
body-guard. 

To  supply  the  deficiency  of  valour  among  his  own  sub- 
jects, and  to  procure  soldiers  who  should  be  personally 
dependent  on  the  emperor,  the  Greek  sovereigns  had 
been,  for  a  great  many  years,  in  the  custom  of  maintain- 

14 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

ing  in  their  pay,  as  near  their  person  as  they  could,  the 
steady  services  of  a  select  number  of  mercenaries  in  the 
capacity  of  body-guards,  which  were  numerous  enough, 
when  their  steady  discipline  and  inflexible  loyalty  were 
taken  in  conjunction  with  their  personal  strength  and 
indomitable  courage,  to  defeat  not  only  any  traitorous 
attempt  on  the  imperial  person,  but  to  quell  open  re- 
bellions, unless  such  were  supported  by  a  great  propor- 
tion of  the  military  force.  Their  pay  was  therefore  liberal ; 
their  rank  and  established  character  for  prowess  gave 
them  a  degree  of  consideration  among  the  people,  whose 
reputation  for  valour  had  not  for  some  ages  stood  high  ; 
and  if,  as  foreigners,  and  the  members  of  a  privileged 
body,  the  Varangians  were  sometimes  employed  in  ar- 
bitrary and  unpopular  services,  the  natives  were  so  apt 
to  fear,  while  they  disliked,  them,  that  the  hardy  stran- 
gers disturbed  themselves  but  little  about  the  light  in 
which  they  were  regarded  by  the  inhabitants  of  Con- 
stantinople.     Their  dress  and  accoutrements,   while 
within  the  city,  partook  of  the  rich,  or  rather  gaudy, 
costume  which  we  have  described,  bearing  only  a  sort 
of  affected  resemblance  to  that  which  the  Varangians 
wore  in  their  native  forests.  But  the  individuals  of  this 
select  corps  were,  when  their  services  were  required 
beyond  the  city,  furnished  with  armour  and  weapons 
more  resembling  those  which  they  were  accustomed  to 
wield  in  their  own  country,  possessing  much  less  of  the 
splendour  of  war,  and  a  far  greater  portion  of  its  effec- 
tive terrors ;  and  thus  they  were  summoned  to  take  the 
field. 

This  body  of  Varangians  (which  term  is,  according 
to  one  interpretation,  merely  a  general  expression  for 

15 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

barbarians)  was,  in  an  early  age  of  the  empire,  formed 
of  the  roving  and  piratical  inhabitants  of  the  North, 
whom  a  love  of  adventure,  the  greatest  perhaps  that 
ever  was  indulged,  and  a  contempt  of  danger,  which 
never  had  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  human  nature, 
drove  forth  upon  the  pathless  ocean.  'Piracy,'  says 
Gibbon,  with  his  usual  spirit,  'was  the  exercise,  the  trade, 
the  glory,  and  the  virtue  of  the  Scandinavian  youth. 
Impatient  of  a  bleak  climate  and  narrow  limits,  they 
started  from  the  banquet,  grasped  their  arms,  soimded 
their  horn,  ascended  their  ships,  and  explored  every 
coast  that  promised  either  spoil  or  settlement.'  ^ 

The  conquests  made  in  France  and  Britain  by  these 
wild  sea-kings,  as  they  were  called,  have  obscured  the 
remembrance  of  other  Northern  champions,  who,  long 
before  the  time  of  Comnenus,  made  excursions  as  far  as 
Constantinople,  and  witnessed  with  their  own  eyes  the 
wealth  and  the  weakness  of  the  Grecian  empire  itself. 
Numbers  found  their  way  thither  through  the  pathless 
wastes  of  Russia;  others  navigated  the  Mediterranean 
in  their  sea-serpents,  as  they  termed  their  piratical  ves- 
sels. The  emperors,  terrified  at  the  appearance  of  these 
daring  inhabitants  of  the  frozen  zone,  had  recourse  to 
the  usual  policy  of  a  rich  and  unwarlike  people,  bought 
with  gold  the  service  of  their  swords,  and  thus  formed 
a  corps  of  satellites  more  distinguished  for  valour  than 
the  famed  Prastorian  Bands  of  Rome,  and,  perhaps  be- 
cause fewer  in  number,  unalterably  loyal  to  their  new 
princes. 

But,  at  a  later  period  of  the  empire,  it  began  to  be 

^  Deditte  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  x,  chap,  lv,  p.  221, 
8vo  edition. 

16 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

more  difficult  for  the  emperors  to  obtain  recruits  for 
their  favourite  and  selected  corps,  the  Northern  nations 
having  now  in  a  great  measure  laid  aside  the  piratical 
and  roving  habits  which  had  driven  their  ancestors 
from  the  straits  of  Elsinore  to  those  of  Sestos  and  Aby- 
dos.  The  corps  of  the  Varangians  must  therefore  have 
died  out,  or  have  been  filled  up  with  less  worthy  ma- 
terials, had  not  the  conquests  made  by  the  Normans  in 
the  far  distant  west  sent  to  the  aid  of  Comnenus  a  large 
body  of  the  dispossessed  inhabitants  of  the  islands  of 
Britain,  and  particularly  of  England,  who  furnished 
recruits  to  his  chosen  body-guard.  These  were,  in  fact, 
Anglo-Saxons;  but,  in  the  confused  idea  of  geography 
received  at  the  court  of  Constantinople,  they  were 
naturally  enough  called  Anglo-Danes,  as  their  native 
country  was  confounded  with  the  Thule  of  the  ancients, 
by  which  expression  the  archipelago  of  Zetland  and 
Orkney  is  properly  to  be  understood,  though,  according 
to  the  notions  of  the  Greeks,  it  comprised  either  Den- 
mark or  Britain.  The  emigrants,  however,  spoke  a  lan- 
guage not  very  dissimilar  to  the  original  Varangians, 
and  adopted  the  name  more  readily,  that  it  seemed  to 
remind  them  of  their  unhappy  fate,  the  appellation  be- 
ing in  one  sense  capable  of  being  interpreted  as  exiles. 
Excepting  one  or  two  chief  commanders,  whom  the  Em- 
peror judged  worthy  of  such  high  trust,  the  Varangians 
were  officered  by  men  of  their  own  nation;  and  with  so 
many  privileges,  being  joined  by  many  of  their  country- 
men from  time  to  time,  as  the  crusades,  pilgrimages,  or 
discontent  at  home  drove  fresh  supplies  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  or  Anglo-Danes,  to  the  east,  the  Varangians  sub- 
sisted in  strength  to  the  last  days  of  the  Greek  empire, 

43  17 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

retaining  their  native  language,  along  with  the  un- 
blemished loyalty  and  unabated  martial  spirit  which 
characterised  their  fathers. 

This  account  of  the  Varangian  Guard  is  strictly 
historical,  and  might  be  proved  by  reference  to  the 
Byzantine  historians;  most  of  whom,  and  also  Villehar- 
douin's  account  of  the  taking  of  the  city  of  Constanti- 
nople by  the  Franks  and  Venetians,  make  repeated 
mention  of  this  celebrated  and  singular  body  of  English- 
men, forming  a  mercenary  guard  attendant  on  the  per- 
son of  the  Greek  emperors.^ 

Having  said  enough  to  explain  why  an  individual 
Varangian  should  be  strolling  about  the  Golden  Gate, 
we  may  proceed  in  the  story  which  we  have  com- 
menced. 

Let  it  not  be  thought  extraordinary  that  this  soldier 
of  the  life-guard  should  be  looked  upon  with  some  de- 
gree of  curiosity  by  the  passing  citizens.  It  must  be 
supposed  that,  from  their  peculiar  duties,  they  were  not 
encouraged  to  hold  frequent  intercourse  or  communi- 
cation with  the  inhabitants;  and,  besides  that  they  had 
duties  of  police  occasionally  to  exercise  amongst  them, 
which  made  them  generally  more  dreaded  than  be- 
loved, they  were  at  the  same  time  conscious  that  their 
high  pay,  splendid  appointments,  and  immediate  de- 
pendence on  the  emperor  were  subjects  of  envy  to  the 
other  forces.  They,  therefore,  kept  much  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  their  own  barracks,  and  were  seldom  seen 
straggling  remote  from  them,  unless  they  had  a  com- 
mission of  government  entrusted  to  their  charge. 

This  being  the  case,  it  was  natural  that  a  people  so 

*  See  Note  3. 
18 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

curious  as  the  Greeks  should  busy  themselves  in  eyeing 
the  stranger  as  he  loitered  in  one  spot,  or  wandered  to 
and  fro,  like  a  man  who  either  could  not  find  some  place 
which  he  was  seeking,  or  had  failed  to  meet  some  per- 
son with  whom  he  had  an  appointment,  for  which  the 
ingenuity  of  the  passengers  found  a  thousand  different 
and  inconsistent  reasons.  *  A  Varangian/  said  one  citi- 
zen to  another,  *  and  upon  duty  —  ahem !  Then  I  pre- 
sume to  say  in  your  ear  — ' 

'What  do  you  imagine  is  his  object?'  inquired  the 
party  to  whom  this  information  was  addressed. 

'Gods  and  goddesses!  do  you  think  I  can  tell  you? 
But  suppose  that  he  is  lurking  here  to  hear  what  folk  say 
of  the  Emperor,'  answered  the  quidnunc  of  Constanti- 
nople. 

'That  is  not  likely,'  said  the  querist:  'these  Varan- 
gians do  not  speak  our  language,  and  are  not  extremely 
well  fitted  for  spies,  since  few  of  them  pretend  to  any 
intelligible  notion  of  the  Grecian  tongue.  It  is  not  likely, 
I  think,  that  the  Emperor  would  employ  as  a  spy  a  man 
who  did  not  understand  the  language  of  the  country.' 

'But  if  there  are,  as  all  men  fancy,'  answered  the 
politician,  'persons  among  these  barbarian  soldiers 
who  can  speak  almost  all  languages,  you  will  admit  that 
such  are  excellently  qualified  for  seeing  clearly  around 
them,  since  they  possess  the  talent  of  beholding  and  re- 
porting, while  no  one  has  the  slightest  idea  of  suspecting 
them.' 

'It  may  well  be,'  replied  his  companion;  'but  since  we 
see  so  clearly  the  fox's  foot  and  paws  protruding  from 
beneath  the  seeming  sheep's  fleece,  or  rather,  by  your 
leave,  the  hearts  hide,  yonder,  had  we  not  better  be 

19 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

jogging  homeward,  ere  it  be  pretended  we  have  insulted 
a  Varangian  guard? ' 

This  surmise  of  danger  insinuated  by  the  last  speaker, 
who  was  a  much  older  and  more  experienced  politician 
than  his  friend,  determined  both  on  a  hasty  retreat. 
They  adjusted  their  cloaks,  caught  hold  of  each  other's 
arm,  and,  speaking  fast  and  thick  as  they  started  new 
subjects  of  suspicion,  they  sped,  close  coupled  together, 
towards  their  habitations  in  a  different  and  distant 
quarter  of  the  town. 

In  the  meantime,  the  sunset  was  nigh  over;  and  the 
long  shadows  of  the  walls,  bulwarks,  and  arches  were 
projecting  from  the  westward  in  deeper  and  blacker 
shade.  The  Varangian  seemed  tired  of  the  short  and 
lingering  circle  in  which  he  had  now  trodden  for  more 
than  an  hour,  and  in  which  he  still  loitered  like  an  un- 
liberated  spirit,  which  cannot  leave  the  haunted  spot 
till  licensed  by  the  spell  which  has  brought  it  hither. 
Even  so  the  barbarian,  casting  an  impatient  glance  to 
the  sun,  which  was  setting  in  a  blaze  of  light  behind  a 
rich  grove  of  cypress-trees,  looked  for  some  accommoda- 
tion on  the  benches  of  stone  which  were  placed  under 
shadow  of  the  triumphal  arch  of  Theodosius,  drew  the 
axe,  which  was  his  principal  weapon,  close  to  his  side, 
wrapped  his  cloak  about  him,  and,  though  his  dress  was 
not  in  other  respects  a  fit  attire  for  slumber,  any  more 
than  the  place  well  selected  for  repose,  yet  in  less  than 
three  minutes  he  was  fast  asleep.  The  irresistible  impulse 
which  induced  him  to  seek  for  repose  in  a  place  very 
indifferently  fitted  for  the  purpose  might  be  weariness 
consequent  upon  the  military  vigils  which  had  proved  a 
part  of  his  duty  on  the  preceding  evening.  At  the  same 

20 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

time,  his  spirit  was  so  alive  within  him,  even  while  he 
gave  way  to  this  transient  fit  of  oblivion,  that  he  re- 
mained almost  awake  even  with  shut  eyes,  and  no  hovmd 
ever  seemed  to  sleep  more  lightly  than  our  Anglo-Saxon 
at  the  Golden  Gate  of  Constantinople. 

And  now  the  slumberer,  as  the  loiterer  had  been  before, 
was  the  subject  of  observation  to  the  accidental  passen- 
gers. Two  men  entered  the  porch  in  company.  One  was 
a  somewhat  slight-made  but  alert-looking  man,  by  name 
Lysimachus,  and  by  profession  a  designer.  A  roll  of 
paper  in  his  hand,  with  a  little  satchel  containing  a  few 
chalks,  or  pencils,  completed  his  stock-in-trade ;  and  his 
acquaintance  with  the  remains  of  ancient  art  gave  him  a 
power  of  talking  on  the  subject  which  unfortunately  bore 
more  than  due  proportion  to  his  talents  of  execution. 
His  companion,  a  magnificent-looking  man  in  form,  and 
so  far  resembling  the  young  barbarian,  but  more  clown- 
ish and  peasant-like  in  the  expression  of  his  features, 
was  Stephanos  the  wrestler,  well  known  in  the  palestra. 

'Stop  here,  my  friend,'  said  the  artist,  producing  his 
pencils,  'till  I  make  a  sketch  for  my  youthful  Hercules.' 

'I  thought  Hercules  had  been  a  Greek,'  said  the  wrest- 
ler. 'This  sleeping  animal  is  a  barbarian.' 

The  tone  intimated  some  offence,  and  the  designer 
hastened  to  soothe  the  displeasure  which  he  had  thought- 
lessly excited.  Stephanos,  known  by  the  surname  of 
Castor,  who  was  highly  distinguished  for  gymnastic 
exercises,  was  a  sort  of  patron  to  the  little  artist,  and  not 
unlikely  by  his  own  reputation  to  bring  the  talents  of  his 
friend  into  notice. 

'Beauty  and  strength,'  said  the  adroit  artist, '  are  of  no 
particular  nation;  and  may  our  muse  never  deign  me  her 

21 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

prize,  but  it  is  my  greatest  pleasure  to  compare  them  as 
existing  in  the  uncultivated  savage  of  the  North  and 
when  they  are  found  in  the  darling  of  an  enlightened 
people,  who  has  added  the  height  of  gymnastic  skill  to 
the  most  distinguished  natural  qualities,  such  as  we  can 
now  only  see  in  the  works  of  Phidias  and  Praxiteles,  or  in 
our  living  model  of  the  gymnastic  champions  of  anti- 
quity.' 

*Nay,  I  acknowledge  that  the  Varangian  is  a  proper 
man,'  said  the  athletic  hero,  softening  his  tone;  *but  the 
poor  savage  hath  not,  perhaps  in  his  lifetime,  had  a 
single  drop  of  oil  on  his  bosom.  Hercules  instituted  the 
Isthmian  games  — ' 

'But,  hold!  what  sleeps  he  with,  wrapt  so  close  in  his 
bearskin?'  said  the  artist.   *  Is  it  a  club?' 

'Away  —  away,  my  friend!'  cried  Stephanos,  as  they 
looked  closer  on  the  sleeper.  'Do  you  not  know  that  is 
the  instrument  of  their  barbarous  office?  They  do  not 
war  with  swords  or  lances,  as  if  destined  to  attack  men 
of  flesh  and  blood,  but  with  maces  and  axes,  as  if  they 
were  to  hack  limbs  formed  of  stone  and  sinews  of  oak. 
I  will  wager  my  crown  (of  withered  parsley)  that  he  lies 
here  to  arrest  some  distinguished  commander  who  has 
offended  the  government !  He  would  not  have  been  thus 
formidably  armed  otherwise.  Away  —  away,  good 
Lysimachus;  let  us  respect  the  slumbers  of  the  bear.' 

So  saying,  the  champion  of  the  palestra  made  off  with 
less  apparent  confidence  than  his  size  and  strength  might 
have  inspired. 

Others,  now  thinly  straggling,  passed  onward  as  the 
evening  closed,  and  the  shadows  of  the  cypress-trees  fell 
darker  around.  Two  females  of  the  lower  rank  cast  their 

22 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

eyes  on  the  sleeper.  'Holy  Maria!'  said  one,  'if  he  does 
not  put  me  in  mind  of  the  Eastern  tale,  how  the  genie 
brought  a  gallant  young  prince  from  his  nuptial  cham- 
ber in  Egypt,  and  left  him  sleeping  at  the  gate  of  Damas- 
cus. I  will  awake  the  poor  lamb,  lest  he  catch  harm  from 
the  night  dew.' 

'Harm!'  answered  the  older  and  crosser-looking 
woman.  'Ay,  such  harm  as  the  cold  water  of  the  Cydnus 
does  to  the  wild  swan.  A  lamb!  Ay,  forsooth!  Why, 
he 's  a  wolf  or  a  bear,  at  least  a  Varangian,  and  no  modest 
matron  would  exchange  a  word  with  such  an  unmannered 
barbarian.  I  '11  tell  you  what  one  of  these  English  Danes 
did  to  me  — ' 

So  saying,  she  drew  on  her  companion,  who  followed 
with  some  reluctance,  seeming  to  listen  to  her  gabble, 
while  she  looked  back  upon  the  sleeper. 

The  total  disappearance  of  the  sun,  and  nearly  at  the 
same  time  the  departure  of  the  twilight,  which  lasts  so 
short  time  in  that  tropical  region  —  one  of  the  few 
advantages  which  a  more  temperate  climate  possesses 
over  it  being  the  longer  continuance  of  that  sweet  and 
placid  light  —  gave  signal  to  the  warders  of  the  city  to 
shut  the  folding  leaves  of  the  Golden  Gate,  leaving  a 
wicket  lightly  bolted  for  the  passage  of  those  whom 
business  might  have  detained  too  late  without  the  walls, 
and  indeed  for  all  who  chose  to  pay  a  small  coin.  The 
position  and  apparent  insensibility  of  the  Varangian  did 
not  escape  those  who  had  charge  of  the  gate,  of  whom 
there  was  a  strong  guard  which  belonged  to  the  ordinary 
Greek  forces. 

'By  Castor  and  by  Pollux,'  said  the  centurion,  for  the 
Greeks  swore  by  the  ancient  deities,  although  they  no 

2^ 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

longer  worshipped  them,  and  preserved  those  military 
distinctions  with  which  'the  steady  Romans  shook  the 
world,'  although  they  were  altogether  degenerated  from 
their  original  manners  —  'by  Castor  and  Pollux,  com- 
rades, we  cannot  gather  gold  in  this  gate  according  as 
its  legend  tells  us,  yet  it  will  be  our  fault  if  we  cannot 
glean  a  goodly  crop  of  silver;  and  though  the  golden  age 
be  the  most  ancient  and  honourable,  yet  in  this  degener- 
ate time  it  is  much  if  we  see  a  glimpse  of  the  inferior 
metal.' 

'Unworthy  are  we  to  follow  the  noble  centurion 
Harpax,'  answered  one  of  the  soldiers  of  the  watch,  who 
showed  the  shaven  head  and  the  single  tuft  ^  of  a  Mus- 
sulman, 'if  we  do  not  hold  silver  a  sufficient  cause  to 
bestir  ourselves,  when  there  has  been  no  gold  to  be  had 
—  as,  by  the  faith  of  an  honest  man,  I  think  we  can 
hardly  tell  its  colour  —  whether  out  of  the  imperial 
treasury  or  obtained  at  the  expense  of  individuals,  for 
many  long  moons ! ' 

'But  this  silver,'  said  the  centurion,  'thou  shalt  see 
with  thine  own  eye,  and  hear  it  ring  a  knell  in  the  purse 
which  holds  our  common  stock.' 

'Which  did  hold  it,  as  thou  wouldst  say,  most  valiant 
commander,'  replied  the  inferior  warder;  'but  what  that 
purse  holds  now,  save  a  few  miserable  oboli  for  purchas- 
ing certain  pickled  pot-herbs  and  salt  fish,  to  relish  our 
allowance  of  stummed  wine,  I  cannot  tell,  but  willingly 
give  my  share  of  the  contents  to  the  devil,  if  either  purse 
or  platter  exhibits  symptoms  of  any  age  richer  than  the 
age  of  copper.' 

»  One  tuft  is  left  on  the  shaven  crown  of  the  Moslem,  for  the  angel 
to  grasp  by,  when  conveying  him  to  Paradise. 

24 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'I  will  replenish  our  treasury,'  said  the  centurion, 
*were  our  stock  yet  lower  than  it  is.  Stand  up  close  by 
the  wicket,  my  masters.  Bethink  you,  we  are  the  Im- 
perial Guards,  or  the  guards  of  the  Imperial  City,  it  is  all 
one,  and  let  us  have  no  man  rush  past  us  on  a  sudden; 
and  now  that  we  are  on  our  guard,  I  will  unfold  to  you  — 
But  stop,'  said  the  valiant  centurion,  'are  we  all  here 
true  brothers?  Do  all  well  understand  the  ancient  and 
laudable  customs  of  our  watch  —  keeping  all  things 
secret  which  concern  the  profit  and  advantage  of  this 
our  vigil,  and  aiding  and  abetting  the  common  cause, 
without  information  or  treachery?' 

'You  are  strangely  suspicious  to-night,'  answered  the 
sentinel.  'Methinks  we  have  stood  by  you  without  tale- 
telling  in  matters  which  were  more  weighty.  Have  you 
forgot  the  passage  of  the  jeweller,  which  was  neither  the 
gold  nor  silver  age;  but  if  there  were  a  diamond  one — ' 

'Peace,  good  Ismail  the  Infidel,'  said  the  centurion  — 
*for,  I  thank  Heaven,  we  are  of  all  religions,  so  it  is  to  be 
hoped  we  must  have  the  true  one  amongst  us  —  peace,  I 
say;  it  is  unnecessary  to  prove  thou  canst  keep  new 
secrets  by  ripping  up  old  ones.  Come  hither,  look 
through  the  wicket  to  the  stone  bench  on  the  shady 
side  of  the  grand  porch  —  tell  me,  old  lad,  what  dost 
thou  see  there?' 

'A  man  asleep,'  said  Ismail.  'By  Heaven,  I  think, 
from  what  I  can  see  by  the  moonHght,  that  it  is  one  of 
those  barbarians,  one  of  those  island  dogs,  whom  the 
Emperor  sets  such  store  by ! ' 

'And  can  thy  fertile  brain,'  said  the  centurion,  'spin 
nothing  out  of  his  present  situation  tending  towards  our 
advantage? ' 

25 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Why,  ay/  said  Ismail;  'they  have  large  pay,  though 
they  are  not  only  barbarians,  but  pagan  dogs,  in  com- 
parison with  us  Moslems  and  Nazarenes.  That  fellow 
hath  besotted  himself  with  liquor,  and  hath  not  found  his 
way  home  to  his  barracks  in  good  time.  He  will  be  se- 
verely punished,  unless  we  consent  to  admit  him;  and  to 
prevail  on  us  to  do  so,  he  must  empty  the  contents  of  his 
girdle.' 

'That,  at  least  —  that,  at  least,'  answered  the  soldiers 
of  the  city  watch,  but  carefully  suppressing  their  voices, 
though  they  spoke  in  an  eager  tone. 

'And  is  that  all  that  you  would  make  of  such  an  op- 
portunity?' said  Harpax,  scornfully.  'No  —  no,  com- 
rades. If  this  outlandish  animal  indeed  escape  us,  he 
must  at  least  leave  his  fleece  behind.  See  you  not  the 
gleams  from  his  head-piece  and  his  cuirass?  I  presume 
these  betoken  substantial  silver,  though  it  may  be  of  the 
thinnest.  There  lies  the  silver  mine  I  spoke  of,  ready  to 
enrich  the  dexterous  hands  who  shall  labour  it.' 

'But,'  said  timidly  a  young  Greek,  a  companion  of 
their  watch  lately  enlisted  in  the  corps,  and  unac- 
quainted with  their  habits,  'still  this  barbarian,  as  you 
call  him,  is  a  soldier  of  the  Emperor;  and  if  we  are  con- 
victed of  depriving  him  of  his  arms,  we  shall  be  justly 
punished  for  a  military  crime.' 

'  Hear  to  a  new  Lycurgus  come  to  teach  us  our  duty ! ' 
said  the  centurion.  'Learn  first,  young  man,  that  the 
metropolitan  cohort  never  can  commit  a  crime,  and  learn 
next,  of  course,  that  they  can  never  be  convicted  of  one. 
Suppose  we  found  a  straggling  barbarian,  a  Varangian, 
like  this  slumberer,  perhaps  a  Frank,  or  some  other  of 
these  foreigners  bearing  unpronounceable  names,  while 

26 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

they  dishonour  us  by  putting  on  the  arms  and  apparel 
of  the  real  Roman  soldier,  are  we,  placed  to  defend  an 
important  post,  to  admit  a  man  so  suspicious  within  our 
postern,  when  the  event  may  probably  be  to  betray  both 
the  Golden  Gate  and  the  hearts  of  gold  who  guard  it  — 
to  have  the  one  seized  and  the  throats  of  the  others 
handsomely  cut? ' 

'Keep  him  without  side  the  gate,  then,'  repHed  the 
novice,  'if  you  think  him  so  dangerous.  For  my  part,  I 
should  not  fear  him,  were  he  deprived  of  that  huge 
double-edged  axe,  which  gleams  from  under  his  cloak, 
having  a  more  deadly  glare  than  the  comet  which  as- 
trologers prophesy  such  strange  things  of.' 

'Nay,  then,  we  agree  together,'  answered  Harpax, 
'and  you  speak  Hke  a  youth  of  modesty  and  sense;  and  I 
promise  you  the  state  will  lose  nothing  in  the  despoiling 
of  this  same  barbarian.  Each  of  these  savages  hath  a 
double  set  of  accoutrements,  the  one  wrought  with  gold, 
silver,  inlaid  work,  and  ivory,  as  becomes  their  duties 
in  the  prince's  household;  the  other  fashioned  of  triple 
steel,  strong,  weighty,  and  irresistible.  Now,  in  taking 
from  this  suspicious  character  his  silver  helmet  and 
cuirass,  you  reduce  him  to  his  proper  weapons,  and  you 
will  see  him  start  up  in  arms  fit  for  duty.' 

'Yes,'  said  the  novice;  'but  I  do  not  see  that  this  rea- 
soning will  do  more  than  warrant  our  stripping  the 
Varangian  of  his  armour,  to  be  afterwards  heedfully 
returned  to  him  on  the  morrow,  if  he  prove  a  true  man. 
How,  I  know  not,  but  I  had  adopted  some  idea  that  it 
was  to  be  confiscated  for  our  joint  behoof.' 

'Unquestionably,'  said  Harpax;  'for  such  has  been 
the  rule  of  our  watch  ever  since  the  days  of  the  excellent 

27 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

centurion  Sisyphus,  in  whose  time  it  first  was  determined 
that  all  contraband  commodities,  or  suspicious  weapons, 
or  the  like,  which  were  brought  into  the  city  during  the 
night-watch,  should  be  uniformly  forfeited  to  the  use 
of  the  soldiery  of  the  guard;  and  where  the  Emperor  finds 
the  goods  or  arms  unjustly  seized,  I  hope  he  is  rich 
enough  to  make  it  up  to  the  sufferer.' 

'But  still  —  but  still,'  said  Sebastes  of  Mitylene,  the 
young  Greek  aforesaid,  'were  the  Emperor  to  dis- 
cover — ' 

*Ass!'  replied  Harpax,  'he  cannot  discover,  if  he  had 
all  the  eyes  of  Argus's  tail.  Here  are  twelve  of  us,  sworn, 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  watch,  to  abide  in  the 
same  story.  Here  is  a  barbarian,  who,  if  he  remembers 
anything  of  the  matter  —  which  I  greatly  doubt,  his 
choice  of  a  lodging  arguing  his  familiarity  with  the  wine- 
pot  —  tells  but  a  wild  tale  of  losing  his  armour,  which 
we,  my  masters  (looking  round  to  his  companions),  deny 
stoutly  —  I  hope  we  have  courage  enough  for  that  — 
and  which  party  will  be  believed?  The  companions  of 
the  watch,  surely!' 

*  Quite  the  contrary,'  said  Sebastes.  *I  was  born  at  a 
distance  from  hence;  yet,  even  in  the  island  of  Mitylene, 
the  rumour  had  reached  me  that  the  cavaliers  of  the  city- 
guard  of  Constantinople  were  so  accomplished  in  false- 
hood that  the  oath  of  a  single  barbarian  would  outweigh 
the  Christian  oath  of  the  whole  body,  if  Christian  some 
of  them  are  —  for  example,  this  dark  man  with  a  single 
tuft  on  his  head.' 

'And  if  it  were  even  so,'  said  the  centurion,  with  a 
gloomy  and  sinister  look, '  there  is  another  way  of  mak- 
ing the  transaction  a  safe  one.' 

28 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Sebastes,  fixing  his  eye  on  his  commander,  moved  his 
hand  to  the  hilt  of  an  Eastern  poniard  which  he  wore,  as 
if  to  penetrate  his  exact  meaning.  The  centurion 
nodded  in  acquiescence. 

'Young  as  I  am,'  said  Sebastes,  *  I  have  been  already  a 
pirate  five  years  at  sea,  and  a  robber  three  years  now  in 
the  hills,  and  it  is  the  first  time  I  have  seen  or  heard  a 
man  hesitate,  in  such  a  case,  to  take  the  only  part  which 
is  worth  a  brave  man's  while  to  resort  to  in  a  pressing 
affair.' 

Harpax  struck  his  hand  into  that  of  the  soldier,  as 
sharing  his  uncompromising  sentiments;  but  when  he 
spoke  it  was  in  a  tremulous  voice. 

'How  shall  we  deal  with  him?'  said  he  to  Sebastes, 
who,  from  the  most  raw  recruit  in  the  corps,  had  now 
risen  to  the  highest  place  in  his  estimation. 

'Anyhow,'  returned  the  islander;  'I  see  bows  here  and 
shafts,  and  if  no  other  person  can  use  them  — ' 

'They  are  not,'  said  the  centurion,  'the  regular  arms 
of  our  corps.' 

'The  fitter  you  to  guard  the  gates  of  a  city,'  said  the 
young  soldier  with  a  horse-laugh,  which  had  something 
insulting  in  it.  'Well  —  be  it  so.  I  can  shoot  like  a 
Scythian,'  he  proceeded:  'nod  but  with  your  head,  one 
shaft  shall  crash  among  the  splinters  of  his  skull  and  his 
brains,  the  second  shall  quiver  in  his  heart.' 

'  Bravo,  my  noble  comrade ! '  said  Harpax,  in  a  tone  of 
affected  rapture,  always  lowering  his  voice,  however,  as 
respecting  the  slumbers  of  the  Varangian.  'Such  were 
the  robbers  of  ancient  days,  the  Diomedes,  Corynetes, 
Synnes,  Scyrons,  Procrustes,  whom  it  required  demi- 
gods to  bring  to  what  was  miscalled  justice,  and  whose 

29 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

compeers  and  fellows  will  remain  masters  of  the  conti- 
nent and  the  isles  of  Greece,  until  Hercules  and  Theseus 
shall  again  appear  upon  earth.  Nevertheless,  shoot  not, 
my  valiant  Sebastes  —  draw  not  the  bow,  my  invalu- 
able Mitylenian:  you  may  wound  and  not  kill.' 

*I  am  little  wont  to  do  so,'  said  Sebastes,  again  re- 
peating the  hoarse,  chuckling,  discordant  laugh,  which 
grated  upon  the  ears  of  the  centurion,  though  he  could 
hardly  tell  the  reason  why  it  was  so  uncommonly 
unpleasant. 

*If  I  look  not  about  me,'  was  his  internal  reflection, 
*we  shall  have  two  centurions  of  the  watch  instead  of 
one.  This  Mitylenian,  or  be  he  who  the  devil  will,  is  a 
bow's  length  beyond  me.  I  must  keep  my  eye  on  him.' 
He  then  spoke  aloud,  in  a  tone  of  authority.  'But  come, 
young  man,  it  is  hard  to  discourage  a  young  beginner. 
If  you  have  been  such  a  rover  of  wood  and  river  as  you 
tell  us  of,  you  know  how  to  play  the  sicarius:  there  lies 
your  object,  drunk  or  asleep,  we  know  not  which  — 
you  will  deal  with  him  in  either  case.' 

'Will  you  give  me  no  odds  to  stab  a  stupefied  or 
drunken  man,  most  noble  centurion?'  answered  the 
Greek.  *  You  would  perhaps  love  the  commission  your- 
self? '  he  continued,  somewhat  ironically. 

*Do  as  you  are  directed,  friend,'  said  Harpax,  point- 
ing to  the  turret  staircase  which  led  down  from  the 
battlement  to  the  arched  entrance  underneath  the 
porch. 

*He  has  the  true  cat-like,  stealthy  pace,'  half-mut- 
tered the  centurion,  as  his  sentinel  descended  to  do  such 
a  crime  as  he  was  posted  there  to  prevent.  '  This  cock- 
erel's comb  must  be  cut,  or  he  will  become  king  of  the 

30 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

roost.  But  let  us  see  if  his  hand  be  as  resolute  as  his 
tongue;  then  we  will  consider  what  turn  to  give  to  the 
conclusion.' 

As  Harpax  spoke  between  his  teeth,  and  rather  to 
himself  than  any  of  his  companions,  the  Mitylenian 
emerged  from  under  the  archway,  treading  on  tiptoe,  yet 
swiftly,  with  an  admirable  mixture  of  silence  and  celer- 
ity. His  poniard,  drawn  as  he  descended,  gleamed  in  his 
hand,  which  was  held  a  little  behind  the  rest  of  his  per- 
son, so  as  to  conceal  it.  The  assassin  hovered  less  than  an 
instant  over  the  sleeper,  as  if  to  mark  the  interval  be- 
tween the  ill-fated  silver  corslet  and  the  body  which  it  was 
designed  to  protect,  when,  at  the  instant  the  blow  was 
rushing  to  its  descent,  the  Varangian  started  up  at  once, 
arrested  the  armed  hand  of  the  assassin,  by  striking  it 
upwards  with  the  head  of  his  battle-axe;  and,  while  he 
thus  parried  the  intended  stab,  struck  the  Greek  a  blow 
heavier  than  Sebastes  had  ever  learned  at  the  pancra- 
tion,  which  left  him  scarce  the  power  to  cry  '  help '  to  his 
comrades  on  the  battlements.  They  saw  what  had  hap- 
pened, however,  and  beheld  the  barbarian  set  his  foot 
on  their  companion,  and  brandish  high  his  formidable 
weapon,  the  whistling  sound  of  which  made  the  old  arch 
ring  ominously,  while  he  paused  an  instant,  with  his 
weapon  upheaved,  ere  he  gave  the  finishing  blow  to  his 
enemy.  The  warders  made  a  bustle,  as  if  some  of  them 
would  descend  to  the  assistance  of  Sebastes,  without, 
however,  appearing  very  eager  to  do  so,  when  Harpax, 
in  a  rapid  whisper,  commanded  them  to  stand  fast. 

'Each  man  to  his  place,'  he  said, '  happen  what  may. 
Yonder  comes  a  captain  of  the  guard;  the  secret  is  our 
own,  if  the  savage  has  killed  the  Mitylenian,  as  I  well 

31 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

trust,  for  he  stirs  neither  hand  nor  foot.  But  if  he  lives, 
my  comrades,  make  hard  your  faces  as  flint:  he  is  but 
one  man,  we  are  twelve.  We  know  nothing  of  his  pur- 
pose, save  that  he  went  to  see  wherefore  the  barbarian 
slept  so  near  the  post.' 

While  the  centurion  thus  bruited  his  purpose  in  busy 
insinuation  to  the  companions  of  his  watch,  the  stately 
figure  of  a  tall  soldier,  richly  armed,  and  presenting  a 
lofty  crest,  which  glistened  as  he  stept  from  the  open 
moonlight  into  the  shade  of  the  vault,  became  visible 
beneath.  A  whisper  passed  among  the  warders  on  the 
top  of  the  gate. 

'Draw  bolt,  shut  gate,  come  of  the  Mitylenian  what 
will,'  said  the  centurion;  *  we  are  lost  men  if  we  own  him. 
Here  comes  the  chief  of  the  Varangian  axes,  the  Fol- 
lower himself.' 

'Well,  Hereward,'  said  the  officer  who  came  last  upon 
the  scene,  in  a  sort  of  Imgua  franca,  generally  used  by 
the  barbarians  of  the  guard,  *  hast  thou  caught  a  night- 
hawk?' 

*Ay,  by  St.  George!'  answered  the  soldier;  'and  yet, 
in  my  country,  we  would  call  him  but  a  kite.' 

'What  is  he?'  said  the  leader. 

'He  will  tell  you  that  himself,'  replied  the  Varangian, 
'when  I  take  my  grasp  from  his  windpipe.' 

'Let  him  go,  then,'  said  the  officer. 

The  Englishman  did  as  he  was  commanded.  But, 
escaping  as  soon  as  he  felt  himself  at  liberty,  with  an 
alertness  which  could  scarce  have  been  anticipated,  the 
Mitylenian  rushed  out  at  the  arch,  and,  availing  himself 
of  the  complicated  ornaments  which  had  originally 
graced  the  exterior  of  the  gateway,  he  fled  around  but- 

32 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

tress  and  projection,  closely  pursued  by  the  Varangian, 
who,  cumbered  with  his  armour,  was  hardly  a  match  in 
the  course  for  the  light-footed  Grecian,  as  he  dodged  his 
pursuer  from  one  skulking-place  to  another.  The  officer 
laughed  heartily  as  the  two  figures,  like  shadows  appear- 
ing, and  disappearing  as  suddenly,  held  rapid  flight  and 
chase  around  the  arch  of  Theodosius. 

*  By  Hercules !  it  is  Hector  pursued  round  the  walls  of 
Ilion  by  Achilles,'  said  the  officer;  'but  my  Pelides  will 
scarce  overtake  the  son  of  Priam.  What,  ho!  goddess- 
born —  son  of  the  white- footed  Thetis!  But  the  allusion 
is  lost  on  the  poor  savage.  Halloo,  Hereward!  I  say, 
stop  —  know  thine  own  most  barbarous  name,'  These 
last  words  were  muttered;  then  raising  his  voice,  'Do 
not  outrun  thy  wind,  good  Hereward.  Thou  mayst  have 
more  occasion  for  breath  to-night.' 

'If  it  had  been  my  leader's  will,'  answered  the  Varan- 
gian, coming  back  in  sulky  mood,  and  breathing  like 
one  who  had  been  at  the  top  of  his  speed, '  I  would  have 
had  him  as  fast  as  ever  greyhound  held  hare,  ere  I  left 
off  the  chase.  Were  it  not  for  this  fooHsh  armour,  which 
encumbers  without  defending  one,  I  would  not  have 
made  two  bounds  without  taking  him  by  the  throat.' 

*  As  well  as  it  is,'  said  the  officer,  who  was,  in  fact,  the 
Acoulouthos,  or  Follower,  so  called  because  it  was  the 
duty  of  this  highly-trusted  officer  of  the  Varangian 
Guards  constantly  to  attend  on  the  person  of  the  Em- 
peror. 'But  let  us  now  see  by  what  means  we  are  to 
regain  our  entrance  through  the  gate;  for  if,  as  I  sus- 
pect, it  was  one  of  those  warders  who  was  willing  to  have 
played  thee  a  trick,  his  companions  may  not  let  us  enter 
willingly.' 

«  33 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'And  is  it  not,'  said  the  Varangian,  'your  valour's 
duty  to  probe  this  want  of  discipline  to  the  bottom?' 

'Hush  thee  here,  my  simple-minded  savage!  I  have 
often  told  you,  most  ignorant  Hereward,  that  the  skulls 
of  those  who  come  from  your  cold  and  muddy  Bceotia 
of  the  North  are  fitter  to  bear  out  twenty  blows  with  a 
sledge-hammer  than  turn  off  one  witty  or  ingenious  idea. 
But  follow  me,  Hereward,  and  although  I  am  aware 
that  showing  the  fine  meshes  of  Grecian  policy  to  the 
coarse  eye  of  an  unpractised  barbarian  like  thee  is  much 
like  casting  pearls  before  swine,  a  thing  forbidden  in  the 
Blessed  Gospel,  yet,  as  thou  hast  so  good  a  heart  and  so 
trusty,  as  is  scarce  to  be  met  with  among  my  Varangians 
themselves,  I  care  not  if,  while  thou  art  in  attendance  on 
my  person,  I  endeavour  to  indoctrinate  thee  in  some  of 
that  policy  by  which  I  myself,  the  Follower,  the  chief 
of  the  Varangians,  and  therefore  erected  by  their  axes 
into  the  most  valiant  of  the  valiant,  am  content  to  guide 
myself,  although  every  way  qualified  to  bear  me  through 
the  cross-currents  of  the  court  by  main  pull  of  oar  and 
press  of  sail  —  a  condescension  in  me,  to  do  that  by 
policy  which  no  man  in  this  imperial  court,  the  chosen 
sphere  of  superior  wits,  could  so  well  accomplish  by 
open  force  as  myself.  What  think'st  thou,  good  savage? ' 

'I  know,'  answered  the  Varangian,  who  walked  about 
a  step  and  a  half  behind  his  leader,  like  an  orderly  of  the 
present  day  behind  his  oJQ&cer's  shoulder,  *I  should  be 
sorry  to  trouble  my  head  with  what  I  could  do  by  my 
hands  at  once.' 

'Did  I  not  say  so?'  replied  the  Follower,  who  had  now 
for  some  minutes  led  the  way  from  the  Golden  Gate,  and 
was  seen  gliding  along  the  outside  of  the  moonlight  walls, 

34 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

as  if  seeking  an  entrance  elsewhere.  *Lo,  such  is  the  stuff 
of  what  you  call  your  head  is  made!  Your  hands  and 
arms  are  perfect  Achitophels  compared  to  it.  Hearken 
to  me,  thou  most  ignorant  of  all  animals  —  but,  for  that 
very  reason,  thou  stoutest  of  confidants  and  bravest  of 
soldiers  —  I  will  tell  thee  the  very  riddle  of  this  night- 
work,  and  yet,  even  then,  I  doubt  if  thou  canst  imder- 
stand  me.' 

*It  is  my  present  duty  to  try  to  comprehend  your 
valour,'  said  the  Varangian  —  'I  would  say  your  policy, 
since  you  condescend  to  expound  it  to  me.  As  for  your 
valour,'  he  added, '  I  should  be  unlucky  if  I  did  not  think 
I  understand  its  length  and  breadth  already.' 

The  Greek  general  coloured  a  little,  but  replied,  with 
unaltered  voice,  'True,  good  Hereward.  We  have  seen 
each  other  in  battle.' 

Hereward  here  could  not  suppress  a  short  cough, 
which,  to  those  grammarians  of  the  day  who  were  skilful 
in  applying  the  use  of  accents,  would  have  implied  no 
peculiar  eulogium  on  his  officer's  military  bravery. 
Indeed,  during  their  whole  intercourse,  the  conversa- 
tion of  the  general,  in  spite  of  his  tone  of  affected  impor- 
tance and  superiority,  displayed  an  obvious  respect  for 
his  companion,  as  one  who,  in  many  points  of  action, 
might,  if  brought  to  the  test,  prove  a  more  effective 
soldier  than  himself.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  pow- 
erful Northern  warrior  replied,  although  it  was  with  all 
observance  of  discipline  and  duty,  yet  the  discussion 
might  sometimes  resemble  that  between  an  ignorant 
macaroni  officer,  before  the  Duke  of  York's  reformation 
of  the  British  army,  and  a  steady  sergeant  of  the  regi- 
ment in  which  they  both  served.  There  was  a  conscious- 

35 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ness  of  superiority,  disguised  by  external  respect,  and 
half  admitted  by  the  leader. 

'You  will  grant  me,  my  simple  friend,'  continued  the 
chief,  in  the  same  tone  as  before,  'in  order  to  lead  thee 
by  a  short  passage  into  the  deepest  principle  of  policy 
which  pervades  this  same  court  of  Constantinople,  that 
the  favour  of  the  Emperor  (here  the  ofl&cer  raised  his 
casque,  and  the  soldier  made  a  semblance  of  doing  so 
also) ,  who  —  be  the  place  where  he  puts  his  foot  sacred ! 
—  is  the  vivifying  principle  of  the  sphere  in  which  we 
live,  as  the  sun  itself  is  that  of  humanity  — ' 

'  I  have  heard  something  like  this  said  by  our  tribunes,' 
said  the  Varangian. 

'It  is  their  duty  so  to  instruct  you,'  answered  the 
leader;  'and  I  trust  that  the  priests  also,  in  their  sphere, 
forget  not  to  teach  my  Varangians  their  constant  service 
to  their  emperor.' 

'They  do  not  omit  it,'  replied  the  soldier,  'though  we 
of  the  exiles  know  our  duty.' 

*  God  forbid  I  should  doubt  it,'  said  the  commander  of 
the  battle-axes.  'All  I  mean  is  to  make  thee  understand, 
my  dear  Hereward,  that  as  there  are,  though  perhaps 
such  do  not  exist  in  thy  dark  and  gloomy  climate,  a  race 
of  insects  which  are  born  in  the  first  rays  of  the  morn- 
ing and  expire  with  those  of  sunset,  thence  called  by  us 
ephemercd,  as  enduring  one  day  only,  such  is  the  case  of  a 
favourite  at  court,  while  enjoying  the  smiles  of  the  Most 
Sacred  Emperor.  And  happy  is  he  whose  favour,  rising 
as  the  person  of  the  sovereign  emerges  from  the  level 
space  which  extends  around  the  throne,  displays  itself  in 
the  first  imperial  blaze  of  glory,  and  who,  keeping  his 
post  during  the  meridian  splendour  of  the  crown,  has 

36 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

only  the  fate  to  disappear  and  die  with  the  last  beam  of 
imperial  brightness.' 

'Your  valour,'  said  the  islander,  'speaks  higher  lan- 
guage than  my  Northern  wits  are  able  to  comprehend. 
Only,  methinks,  rather  than  part  with  life  at  the  sunset,  I 
would,  since  insect  I  must  needs  be,  become  a  moth  for 
two  or  three  dark  hours.' 

*Such  is  the  sordid  desire  of  the  vulgar,  Hereward,' 
answered  the  Follower,  with  assumed  superiority,  'who 
are  contented  to  enjoy  life,  lacking  distinction;  whereas 
we,  on  the  other  hand  —  we  of  choicer  quality,  who 
form  the  nearest  and  innermost  circle  around  the  Im- 
perial Alexius,  in  which  he  himself  forms  the  central 
point,  are  watchful,  to  woman's  jealousy,  of  the  distri- 
bution of  his  favours,  and  omit  no  opportunity,  whether 
by  leaguing  with  or  against  each  other,  to  recommend 
ourselves  individually  to  the  peculiar  light  of  his  counte- 
nance.' 

*  I  think  I  comprehend  what  you  mean,'  said  the  guards- 
man; 'although  as  for  living  such  a  life  of  intrigue  —  but 
that  matters  not.' 

'It  does  indeed  matter  not,  my  good  Hereward,'  said 
his  officer, '  and  thou  art  lucky  in  having  no  appetite  for 
the  life  I  have  described.  Yet  have  I  seen  barbarians 
rise  high  in  the  empire,  and  if  they  have  not  altogether 
the  flexibility  —  the  malleability,  as  it  is  called  —  that 
happy  ductility  which  can  give  way  to  circumstances,  I 
have  yet  known  those  of  barbaric  tribes,  especially  if 
bred  up  at  court  from  their  youth,  who  joined  to  a  lim- 
ited portion  of  this  flexile  quality  enough  of  a  certain 
tough  durability  of  temper,  which,  if  it  does  not  excel 
in  availing  itself  of  opportunity,  has  no  contemptible 

37 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

talent  at  creating  it.  But  letting  comparisons  pass,  it 
follows,  from  this  emulation  of  glory  —  that  is,  of  royal 
favour  —  amongst  the  servants  of  the  imperial  and  most 
sacred  court,  that  each  is  desirous  of  distinguishing 
himself  by  showing  to  the  Emperor,  not  only  that  he 
fully  understands  the  duties  of  his  own  employments,  but 
that  he  is  capable,  in  case  of  necessity,  of  discharging 
those  of  others.' 

*  I  understand,'  said  the  Saxon;  'and  thence  it  happens 
that  the  under-ministers,  soldiers,  and  assistants  of  the 
great  crown-officers  are  perpetually  engaged,  not  in  aid- 
ing each  other,  but  in  acting  as  spies  on  their  neigh- 
bours' actions?' 

'Even  so,'  answered  the  commander;  'it  is  but  few 
days  since  I  had  a  disagreeable  instance  of  it.  Every 
one,  however  dull  in  the  intellect,  hath  understood  this 
much,  that  the  great  Protospathaire,^  which  title  thou 
knowest  signifies  the  general-in-chief  of  the  forces  of 
the  empire,  hath  me  at  hatred,  because  I  am  the  leader 
of  those  redoubtable  Varangians,  who  enjoy,  and  well 
deserve,  privileges  exempting  them  from  the  absolute 
command  which  he  possesses  over  all  other  corps  of  the 
army  —  an  authority  which  becomes  Nicanor,  not- 
withstanding the  victorious  soimd  of  his  name,  nearly  as 
well  as  a  war-saddle  would  become  a  bullock.' 

'How!'  said  the  Varangian,  'does  the  Protospathaire 
pretend  to  any  authority  over  the  noble  exiles?  By  the 
red  dragon,  imder  which  we  will  live  and  die,  we  will 
obey  no  man  alive  but  Alexius  Comnenus  himself,  and 
our  own  officers ! ' 

'Rightly  and  bravely  resolved,'  said  the  leader;  'but, 

*  Literally,  the  First  Swordsman. 
38 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

my  good  Hereward,  let  not  your  just  indignation  hurry 
you  so  far  as  to  name  the  Most  Sacred  Emperor  without 
raising  your  hand  to  your  casque,  and  adding  the  epi- 
thets of  his  lofty  rank.' 

*I  will  raise  my  hand  often  enough  and  high  enough,* 
said  the  Norseman,  'when  the  Emperor's  service  re- 
quires it.' 

*  I  dare  be  sworn  thou  wilt,'  said  Achilles  Tatius,  the 
commander  of  the  Varangian  Imperial  Body-Guard, 
who  thought  the  time  was  unfavourable  for  distinguish- 
ing himself  by  insisting  on  that  exact  observance  of  eti- 
quette which  was  one  of  his  great  pretensions  to  the 
name  of  a  soldier.  'Yet,  were  it  not  for  the  constant 
vigilance  of  your  leader,  my  child,  the  noble  Varangians 
would  be  trode  down,  in  the  common  mass  of  the  army, 
with  the  heathen  cohorts  of  Huns,  Scythians,  or  those 
turbaned  infidels  the  renegade  Turks ;  and  even  for  this 
is  your  commander  here  in  peril,  because  he  vindicates 
his  axe-men  as  worthy  of  being  prized  above  the  paltry 
shafts  of  the  Eastern  tribes  and  the  javelins  of  the 
Moors,  which  are  only  fit  to  be  playthings  for  chil- 
dren,' 

'You  are  exposed  to  no  danger,'  said  the  soldier,  clos- 
ing up  to  Achilles  in  a  confidential  manner, '  from  which 
these  axes  can  protect  you.' 

'Do  I  not  know  it?'  said  Achilles,  'But  it  is  to  your 
arms  alone  that  the  Follower  of  his  Most  Sacred  Majesty 
now  entrusts  his  safety.' 

'  In  aught  that  a  soldier  may  do,'  answered  Hereward; 
'make  your  own  computation,  and  then  reckon  this 
single  arm  worth  two  against  any  man  the  Emperor  has, 
not  being  of  our  own  corps.' 

39 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Listen,  my  brave  friend,'  continued  Achilles.  'This 
Nicanor  was  daring  enough  to  throw  a  reproach  on  our 
noble  corps,  accusing  them  —  gods  and  goddesses!  — 
of  plundering  in  the  field,  and,  yet  more  sacrilegious,  of 
drinking  the  precious  wine  which  was  prepared  for  his 
Most  Sacred  Majesty's  own  blessed  consumption.  I, 
the  sacred  person  of  the  Emperor  being  present,  pro- 
ceeded, as  thou  mayst  well  beheve  — ' 

'To  give  him  the  lie  in  his  audacious  throat! '  burst  in 
the  Varangian;  'named  a  place  of  meeting  somewhere 
in  the  vicinity,  and  called  the  attendance  of  your  poor 
follower,  Hereward  of  Hampton,  who  is  your  bond-slave 
for  life  long,  for  such  an  honour!  I  wish  only  you  had 
told  me  to  get  my  work-day  arms;  but,  however,  I  have 
my  battle-axe,  and — '  Here  his  companion  seized  a 
moment  to  break  in,  for  he  was  somewhat  abashed  at 
the  lively  tone  of  the  young  soldier. 

'Hush  thee,  my  son,'  said  Achilles  Tatius  —  'speak 
low,  my  excellent  Hereward.  Thou  mistakest  this  thing. 
With  thee  by  my  side,  I  would  not,  indeed,  hesitate  to 
meet  five  such  as  Nicanor;  but  such  is  not  the  law  of  this 
most  hallowed  empire,  nor  the  sentiments  of  the  three 
times  illustrious  prince  who  now  rules  it.  Thou  art  de- 
bauched, my  soldier,  with  the  swaggering  stories  of  the 
Franks,  of  whom  we  hear  more  and  more  every  day.' 

'I  would  not  willingly  borrow  anything  from  those 
whom  you  call  Franks,  and  we  Normans,'  answered  the 
Varangian,  in  a  disappointed,  dogged  tone. 

'Why,  listen,  then,'  said  the  ofi&cer,  as  they  proceeded 
on  their  walk  —  'listen  to  the  reason  of  the  thing,  and 
consider  whether  such  a  custom  can  obtain,  as  that  which 
they  term  the  duello,  in  any  country  of  civilisation  and 

40 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

common  sense,  to  say  nothing  of  one  which  is  blessed 
with  the  domination  of  the  most  rare  Alexius  Comnenus. 
Two  great  lords,  or  high  officers,  quarrel  in  the  court, 
and  before  the  reverend  person  of  the  Emperor.  They 
dispute  about  a  point  of  fact.  Now,  instead  of  each 
maintaining  his  own  opinion,  by  argument  or  evidence, 
suppose  they  had  adopted  the  custom  of  these  barbar- 
ous Franks  —  ''Why,  thou  liest  in  thy  throat,"  says  the 
one;  "And  thou  liest  in  thy  very  lungs,"  says  another; 
and  they  measure  forth  the  lists  of  battle  in  the  next 
meadow.  Each  swears  to  the  truth  of  his  quarrel, 
though  probably  neither  well  knows  precisely  how  the 
fact  stands.  One,  perhaps  the  hardier,  truer,  and  better 
man  of  the  two,  the  Follower  of  the  Emperor,  and  father 
of  the  Varangians  —  for  death,  my  faithful  follower, 
spares  no  man  —  lies  dead  on  the  ground,  and  the  other 
comes  back  to  predominate  in  the  court,  where,  had  the 
matter  been  inquired  into  by  the  rules  of  common  sense 
and  reason,  the  victor,  as  he  is  termed,  would  have  been 
sent  to  the  gallows.  And  yet  this  is  the  law  of  arms,  as 
your  fancy  pleases  to  call  it,  friend  Hereward ! ' 

'May  it  please  your  valour,'  answered  the  barbarian, 
'there  is  a  show  of  sense  in  what  you  say;  but  you  will 
sooner  convince  me  that  this  blessed  moonUght  is  the 
blackness  of  a  wolf's  mouth  than  that  I  ought  to  hear 
myself  called  liar  without  cramming  the  epithet  down 
the  speaker's  throat  with  the  spike  of  my  battle-axe. 
The  lie  is  to  a  man  the  same  as  a  blow,  and  a  blow  de- 
grades him  into  a  slave  and  a  beast  of  burden,  if  endured 
without  retaliation.' 

'Ay,  there  it  is!'  said  Achilles;  'could  I  but  get  you  to 
lay  aside  that  inborn  barbarism,  which  leads  you,  other- 

41 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

wise  the  most  disciplined  soldiers  who  serve  the  Sacred 
Emperor,  into  such  deadly  quarrels  and  feuds  — ' 

'Sir  captain,'  said  the  Varangian,  in  a  sullen  tone, 
'take  my  advice,  and  take  the  Varangians  as  you  have 
them;  for,  believe  my  word  that,  if  you  could  teach  them 
to  endure  reproaches,  bear  the  lie,  or  tolerate  stripes, 
you  would  hardly  find  them,  when  their  discipline  is 
completed,  worth  the  single  day's  salt  which  they  cost  to 
his  Holiness,  if  that  be  his  title.  I  must  tell  you,  more- 
over, valorous  sir,  that  the  Varangians  will  little  thank 
their  leader,  who  heard  them  called  marauders,  drunk- 
ards, and  what  not,  and  repelled  not  the  charge  on  the 
spot.' 

'Now,  if  I  knew  not  the  humours  of  my  barbarians,' 
thought  Tatius,  in  his  own  mind, '  I  should  bring  on  my- 
self a  quarrel  with  these  untamed  islanders,  who  the  Em- 
peror thinks  can  be  so  easily  kept  in  discipline.  But  I 
will  settle  this  sport  presently.'  Accordingly,  he  ad- 
dressed the  Saxon  in  a  soothing  tone. 

'My  faithful  soldier,'  he  proceeded  aloud,  'we  Ro- 
mans, according  to  the  custom  of  our  ancestors,  set  as 
much  glory  on  actually  telling  the  truth  as  you  do  in 
resenting  the  imputation  of  falsehood;  and  I  could  not 
with  honour  return  a  charge  of  falsehood  upon  Nicanor, 
since  what  he  said  was  substantially  true.' 

'What!  that  we  Varangians  were  plunderers,  drunk- 
ards, and  the  like?'  said  Hereward,  more  impatient 
than  before. 

'No,  surely,  not  in  that  broad  sense,'  said  Achilles; 
'but  there  was  too  much  foundation  for  the  legend.' 

'When  and  where?'  asked  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

'You  remember,'  replied  his  leader,  'the  long  march 
42 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

near  Laodicea,  where  the  Varangians  beat  off  a  cloud  of 
Turks,  and  retook  a  train  of  the  imperial  baggage?  You 
know  what  was  done  that  day  —  how  you  quenched 
your  thirst,  I  mean? ' 

*  I  have  some  reason  to  remember  it,'  said  Hereward  of 
Hampton;  'for  we  were  half  choked  with  dust,  fatigue, 
and,  which  was  worst  of  all,  constantly  fighting  with  our 
faces  to  the  rear,  when  we  found  some  firkins  of  wine  in 
certain  carriages  which  were  broken  down;  down  our 
throats  it  went,  as  if  it  had  been  the  best  ale  in  South- 
ampton.' 

*Ah,  unhappy!'  said  the  Follower;  'saw  you  not 
that  the  firkins  were  stamped  with  the  thrice  excellent 
grand  butler's  own  inviolable  seal,  and  set  apart  for 
the  private  use  of  his  Imperial  Majesty's  most  sacred 
lips?' 

'By  good  St.  George  of  Merry  England,  worth  a  dozen 
of  your  St.  George  of  Cappadocia,  I  neither  thought  nor 
cared  about  the  matter,'  answered  Hereward.  'And  I 
know  your  valour  drank  a  mighty  draught  yourself  out 
of  my  head-piece;  not  this  silver  bauble,  but  my  steel- 
cap,  which  is  twice  as  ample.  By  the  same  token,  that 
whereas  before  you  were  giving  orders  to  fall  back,  you 
were  a  changed  man  when  you  had  cleared  your  throat 
of  the  dust,  and  cried,  "  Bide  the  other  brunt,  my  brave 
and  stout  boys  of  Britain!"' 

'Ay,'  said  Achilles,  'I  know  I  am  but  too  apt  to  be 
venturous  in  action.  But  you  mistake,  good  Hereward: 
the  wine  I  tasted  in  the  extremity  of  martial  fatigue  was 
not  that  set  apart  for  his  Sacred  Majesty's  own  peculiar 
mouth,  but  a  secondary  sort,  preserved  for  the  grand 
butler  himself,  of  which,  as  one  of  the  great  officers  of 

43 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  household,  I  might  right  lawfully  partake;  the  chance 
was  nevertheless  sinfully  unhappy.' 

'On  my  life/  replied  Hereward,  'I  cannot  see  the 
infelicity  of  drinking  when  we  are  dying  of  thirst.' 

'But  cheer  up,  my  noble  comrade,'  said  Achilles,  after 
he  had  hurried  over  his  own  exculpation,  and  without 
noticing  the  Varangian's  light  estimation  of  the  crime, 
'his  Imperial  Majesty,  in  his  ineffable  graciousness, 
imputes  these  ill-advised  draughts  as  a  crime  to  no  one 
who  partook  of  them.  He  rebuked  the  Protospathaire 
for  fishing  up  this  accusation,  and  said,  when  he  had 
recalled  the  bustle  and  confusion  of  that  toilsome  day, 
"I  thought  myself  well  off  amid  that  seven  times  heated 
furnace  when  we  obtained  a  draught  of  the  barley-wine 
drunk  by  my  poor  Varangians;  and  I  drank  their  health, 
as  well  I  might,  since,  had  it  not  been  for  their  services, 
I  had  drunk  my  last;  and  well  fare  their  hearts,  though 
they  quaffed  my  wine  in  return!"  And  with  that  he 
turned  off,  as  one  who  said,  "I  have  too  much  of  this, 
being  a  finding  of  matter  and  ripping  up  of  stories  against 
Achilles  Tatius  and  his  gallant  Varangians." ' 

'Now,  may  God  bless  his  honest  heart  for  it!'  said 
Hereward,  with  more  downright  heartiness  than  formal 
respect.  'I'll  drink  to  his  health  in  what  I  put  next  to 
my  lips  that  quenches  thirst,  whether  it  may  be  ale, 
wine,  or  ditch-water.' 

'Why,  well  said,  but  speak  not  above  thy  breath,  and 
remember  to  put  thy  hand  to  thy  forehead  when  naming, 
or  even  thinking  of,  the  Emperor.  Well,  thou  knowest, 
Hereward,  that,  having  thus  obtained  the  advantage,  I 
knew  that  the  moment  of  a  repulsed  attack  is  always 
that  of  a  successful  charge ;  and  so  I  brought  against  the 

44 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Protospathaire,  Nicanor,  the  robberies  which  have  been 
committed  at  the  Golden  Gate,  and  other  entrances  of 
the  city,  where  a  merchant  was  but  of  late  kidnapped  and 
murdered,  having  on  him  certain  jewels,  the  property  of 
the  Patriarch,' 

*Ay!  indeed?'  said  the  Varangian;  'and  what  said 
Alex  —  I  mean  the  Most  Sacred  Emperor,  when  he  heard 
such  things  said  of  the  city  warders,  though  he  had  him- 
self given,  as  we  say  in  our  land,  the  fox  the  geese  to 
keep?' 

'It  may  be  he  did,'  replied  Achilles;  'but  he  is  a  sov- 
ereign of  deep  policy,  and  was  resolved  not  to  proceed 
against  these  treacherous  warders,  or  their  general,  the 
Protospathaire,  without  decisive  proof.  His  Sacred 
Majest}',  therefore,  charged  me  to  obtain  specific  cir- 
cumstantial proof  by  thy  means.' 

'And  that  I  would  have  managed  in  two  minutes,  had 
you  not  called  me  off  the  chase  of  yon  cut-throat  vag- 
abond. But  his  Grace  knows  the  word  of  a  Varangian, 
and  I  can  assure  him  that  either  lucre  of  my  silver  gaber- 
dine, which  they  nickname  a  cuirass,  or  the  hatred  of  my 
corps,  would  be  sufficient  to  incite  any  of  these  knaves 
to  cut  the  throat  of  a  Varangian  who  appeared  to  be 
asleep.  So  we  go,  I  suppose,  captain,  to  bear  evidence 
before  the  Emperor  to  this  night's  work? ' 

'  No,  my  active  soldier,  hadst  thou  taken  the  runaway 
villain,  my  first  act  must  have  been  to  set  him  free  again; 
and  my  present  charge  to  you  is,  to  forget  that  such  an 
adventure  has  ever  taken  place.' 

'Ha!'  said  the  Varangian;  'this  is  a  change  of  policy 
indeed ! ' 

'Why,  yes,  brave  Hereward;  ere  I  left  the  palace  this 

45 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

night,  the  Patriarch  made  overtures  of  reconciliation 
betwixt  me  and  the  Protospathaire,  which,  as  our  agree- 
ment is  of  much  consequence  to  the  state,  I  could  not 
very  well  reject,  either  as  a  good  soldier  or  a  good  Chris- 
tian. All  offences  to  my  honour  are  to  be  in  the  fullest 
degree  repaid,  for  which  the  Patriarch  interposes  his 
warrant.  The  Emperor,  who  will  rather  wink  hard 
than  see  disagreements,  loves  better  the  matter  should 
be  slurred  over  thus.' 

'And  the  reproaches  upon  the  Varangians — '  said 
Hereward. 

'Shall  be  fully  retracted  and  atoned  for,'  answered 
Achilles;  'and  a  weighty  donative  in  gold  dealt  among 
the  corps  of  the  Anglo-Danish  axe-men.  Thou,  my 
Hereward,  mayst  be  distributor;  and  thus,  if  well  man- 
aged, mayst  plate  thy  battle-axe  with  gold.' 

'I  love  my  axe  better  as  it  is,'  said  the  Varangian. 
'  My  father  bore  it  against  the  robber  Normans  at  Hast- 
ings. Steel  instead  of  gold  for  my  money.' 

'Thou  mayst  make  thy  choice,  Hereward,'  answered 
his  officer; '  only,  if  thou  art  poor,  say  the  fault  was  thine 
own.' 

But  here,  in  the  course  of  their  circuit  round  Con- 
stantinople, the  officer  and  his  soldier  came  to  a  very 
small  wicket  or  sally-port,  opening  on  the  interior  of  a 
large  and  massive  advanced  work,  which  terminated  an 
entrance  to  the  city  itself.  Here  the  officer  halted,  and 
made  his  obedience,  as  a  devotee  who  is  about  to  enter  a 
chapel  of  peculiar  sanctity. 


CHAPTER  III 


Here,  youth,  thy  foot  unbrace, 

Here,  youth,  thy  brow  unbraid, 
Each  tribute  that  may  grace 

The  threshold  here  be  paid. 
Walk  with  the  stealthy  pace 

Which  Nature  teaches  deer. 
When,  echoing  in  the  chase, 

The  hunter's  horn  they  hear. 

The  Court. 


Before  entering,  Achilles  Tatius  made  various  gestic- 
ulations, which  were  imitated  roughly  and  awkwardly 
by  the  unpractised  Varangian,  whose  service  with  his 
corps  had  been  almost  entirely  in  the  field,  his  routine 
of  duty  not  having,  till  very  lately,  called  him  to  serve 
as  one  of  the  garrison  of  Constantinople.  He  was  not, 
therefore,  acquainted  with  the  minute  observances  which 
the  Greeks,  who  were  the  most  formal  and  ceremonious 
soldiers  and  courtiers  in  the  world,  rendered  not  merely 
to  the  Greek  emperor  in  person,  but  throughout  the 
sphere  which  peculiarly  partook  of  his  influence. 

Achilles,  having  gesticulated  after  his  own  fashion,  at 
length  touched  the  door  with  a  rap,  distinct  at  once  and 
modest.  This  was  thrice  repeated,  when  the  captain 
whispered  to  his  attendant,  'The  interior!  — for  thy  life, 
do  as  thou  seest  me  do.'  At  the  same  moment  he  started 
back,  and  stooping  his  head  on  his  breast,  with  his  hands 
over  his  eyes,  as  if  to  save  them  from  being  dazzled  by 
an  expected  burst  of  light,  awaited  the  answer  to  his 
summons.  The  Anglo-Dane,  desirous  to  obey  his  leader, 
imitating  him  as  near  as  he  could,  stood  side  by  side  in 

47 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  posture  of  Oriental  humiliation.  The  little  portal 
opened  inwards,  when  no  burst  of  light  was  seen,  but 
four  of  the  Varangians  were  made  visible  in  the  entrance, 
holding  each  his  battle-axe,  as  if  about  to  strike  down 
the  intruders  who  had  disturbed  the  silence  of  their 
watch. 

'Acoulouthos,'  said  the  leader,  by  way  of  password. 

'Tatius  and  Acoulouthos,'  murmured  the  warders,  as 
a  countersign. 

Each  sentinel  sunk  his  weapon. 

Achilles  then  reared  his  stately  crest,  with  a  conscious 
dignity  at  making  this  display  of  court  influence  in  the 
eyes  of  his  soldiers.  Hereward  observed  an  undisturbed 
gravity,  to  the  surprise  of  his  officer,  who  marvelled  in 
his  own  mind  how  he  could  be  such  a  barbarian  as  to 
regard  with  apathy  a  scene  which  had  in  his  eyes  the 
most  impressive  and  peculiar  awe.  This  indifference  he 
imputed  to  the  stupid  insensibility  of  his  companion. 

They  passed  on  between  the  sentinels,  who  wheeled 
backward  in  file,  on  each  side  of  the  portal,  and  gave  the 
strangers  entrance  to  a  long  narrow  plank,  stretched 
across  the  city  moat,  which  was  here  drawn  within  the 
inclosure  of  an  external  rampart,  projecting  beyond  the 
principal  wall  of  the  city. 

'This,'  he  whispered  to  Hereward,  'is  called  the 
Bridge  of  Peril,  and  it  is  said  that  it  has  been  occasion- 
ally smeared  with  oil,  or  strewed  with  dried  peas,  and 
that  the  bodies  of  men,  known  to  have  been  in  company 
with  the  Emperor's  most  sacred  person,  have  been  taken 
out  of  the  Golden  Horn,^  into  which  the  moat  empties 
itself.' 

*  The  harbour  of  Constantinople. 
48 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'I  would  not  have  thought/  said  the  islander,  raising 
his  voice  to  its  usual  rough  tone,  'that  Alexius  Com- 
nenus  — ' 

'Hush,  rash  and  regardless  of  your  life!'  said  Achilles 
Tatius;  *to  awaken  the  daughter  of  the  imperial  arch^ 
is  to  incur  deep  penalty  at  all  times,  but  when  a  rash  de- 
linquent has  disturbed  her  with  reflections  on  his  Most 
Sacred  Highness  the  Emperor,  death  is  a  punishment 
far  too  light  for  the  effrontery  which  has  interrupted  her 
blessed  slumber.  Ill  hath  been  my  fate,  to  have  positive 
commands  laid  on  me,  enjoining  me  to  bring  into  the 
sacred  precincts  a  creature  who  hath  no  more  of  the  salt 
of  civilisation  in  him  than  to  keep  his  mortal  frame  from 
corruption,  since  of  all  mental  culture  he  is  totally  in- 
capable. Consider  thyself,  Hereward,  and  bethink  thee 
what  thou  art,  —  by  nature  a  poor  barbarian  —  thy 
best  boast  that  thou  hast  slain  certain  Mussulmans  in 
thy  sacred  master's  quarrel;  and  here  art  thou  admitted 
into  the  inviolable  inclosure  of  the  Blacquernal,  and  in 
the  hearing  not  only  of  the  royal  daughter  of  the  imperial 
arch,  which  means,'  said  the  eloquent  leader,  'the  echo 
of  the  sublime  vaults,  but  —  Heaven  be  our  guide !  —  for 
what  I  know,  within  the  natural  hearing  of  the  sacred 
ear  itself!' 

'Well,  my  captain,'  replied  the  Varangian,  'I  cannot 
presume  to  speak  my  mind  after  the  fashion  of  this 
place ;  but  I  can  easily  suppose  I  am  but  ill  qualified  to 
converse  in  the  presence  of  the  court,  nor  do  I  mean 
therefore  to  say  a  word  till  I  am  spoken  to,  unless  when  I 
shall  see  no  better  company  than  ourselves.  To  be  plain, 

*  The  'daughter  of  the  arch'  was  a  courtly  expression  for  the  echo, 
as  we  find  explained  by  the  courtly  commander  himself. 

43  49 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

I  find  difficulty  in  modelling  my  voice  to  a  smoother  tone 
than  nature  has  given  it;  so,  henceforth,  my  brave  cap- 
tain, I  will  be  mute,  unless  when  you  give  me  a  sign  to 
speak.' 

'  You  will  act  wisely,'  said  the  captain.  'Here  be  cer- 
tain persons  of  high  rank,  nay,  some  that  have  been  born 
in  the  purple  itself,  that  will,  Hereward  —  alas,  for  thee ! 
—  prepare  to  sound  with  the  line  of  their  courtly  under- 
standing the  depths  of  thy  barbarous  and  shallow  con- 
ceit. Do  not,  therefore,  then,  join  their  graceful  smiles 
with  thy  inhuman  bursts  of  cachinnation,  with  which 
thou  art  wont  to  thunder  forth  when  opening  in  chorus 
with  thy  messmates.' 

*I  tell  thee  I  will  be  silent,'  said  the  Varangian, 
moved  somewhat  beyond  his  mood.  'If  you  trust  my 
word,  so;  if  you  think  I  am  a  jackdaw  that  must  be 
speaking,  whether  in  or  out  of  place  and  purpose,  I  am 
contented  to  go  back  again,  and  therein  we  can  end  the 
matter.' 

Achilles,  conscious  perhaps  that  it  was  his  best  policy 
not  to  drive  his  subaltern  to  extremity,  lowered  his  tone 
somewhat  in  reply  to  the  uncourtly  note  of  the  soldier, 
as  if  allowing  something  for  the  rude  manners  of  one 
whom  he  considered  as  not  easily  matched  among  the 
Varangians  themselves  for  strength  and  valour  —  quali- 
ties which,  in  despite  of  Hereward's  discourtesy,  Achilles 
suspected  in  his  heart  were  fully  more  valuable  than  all 
those  nameless  graces  which  a  more  courtly  and  accom- 
plished soldier  might  possess. 

The  expert  navigator  of  the  intricacies  of  the  imperial 
residence  carried  the  Varangian  through  two  or  three 
small  complicated  courts,  forming  a  part  of  the  extensive 

50 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

palace  of  the  Blacquernal,*  and  entered  the  building  it- 
self by  a  side-door,  watched  in  like  manner  by  a  senti- 
nel of  the  Varangian  Guard,  whom  they  passed  on  being 
recognised.  In  the  next  apartment  was  stationed  the 
Court  of  Guard,  where  were  certain  soldiers  of  the  same 
corps  amusing  themselves  at  games  somewhat  resem- 
bling the  modern  draughts  and  dice,  while  they  seasoned 
their  pastime  with  frequent  applications  to  deep  flagons 
of  ale,  which  were  furnished  to  them  while  passing  away 
their  hours  of  duty.  Some  glances  passed  between  Here- 
ward  and  his  comrades,  and  he  would  have  joined  them, 
or  at  least  spoke  to  them ;  for,  since  the  adventure  of  the 
Mitylenian,  Hereward  had  rather  thought  himself  an- 
noyed than  distinguished  by  his  moonlight  ramble  in 
the  company  of  his  commander,  excepting  always  the 
short  and  interesting  period  during  which  he  conceived 
they  were  on  the  way  to  fight  a  duel.  Still,  however  neg- 
ligent in  the  strict  observance  of  the  ceremonies  of  the 
sacred  palace,  the  Varangians  had,  in  their  own  way, 
rigid  notions  of  calculating  their  military  duty;  in  con- 
sequence of  which,  Hereward,  without  speaking  to  his 
companions,  followed  his  leader  through  the  guard-room, 
and  one  or  two  antechambers  adjacent,  the  splendid  and 
luxurious  furniture  of  which  convinced  him  that  he  could 
be  nowhere  else  save  in  the  sacred  residence  of  his  master 
the  Emperor. 

At  length,  having  traversed  passages  and  apartmenti^ 
with  which  the  captain  seemed  familiar,  and  which  he 
threaded  with  a  stealthy,  silent,  and  apparently  a  rev- 
erential, pace,  as  if,  in  his  own  inflated  phrase,  afraid  to 

^  This  palace  derived  its  name  from  the  neighbouring  Blachemian 
gate  and  bridge. 

SI 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

awaken  the  sounding  echoes  of  those  lofty  and  monu- 
mental halls,  another  species  of  inhabitants  began  to 
be  visible.  In  different  entrances,  and  in  different  apart- 
ments, the  Northern  soldier  beheld  those  unfortunate 
slaves,  chiefly  of  African  descent,  raised  occasionally 
under  the  emperors  of  Greece  to  great  power  and  hon- 
ours, who,  in  that  respect,  imitated  one  of  the  most 
barbarous  points  of  Oriental  despotism.  These  slaves 
were  differently  occupied  —  some  standing,  as  if  on 
guard,  at  gates  or  in  passages,  with  their  drawn  sabres 
in  their  hands;  some  were  sitting  in  the  Oriental  fash- 
ion, on  carpets,  reposing  themselves,  or  playing  at 
various  games,  all  of  a  character  profoundly  silent.  Not 
a  word  passed  between  the  guide  of  Hereward  and  the 
withered  and  deformed  beings  whom  they  thus  encount- 
ered. The  exchange  of  a  glance  with  the  principal  soldier 
seemed  all  that  was  necessary  to  ensure  both  an  unin- 
terrupted passage. 

After  making  their  way  through  several  apartments, 
empty  or  thus  occupied,  they  at  length  entered  one  of 
black  marble,  or  some  other  dark-coloured  stone,  much 
loftier  and  longer  than  the  rest.  Side  passages  opened 
into  it,  so  far  as  the  islander  could  discern,  descending 
from  several  portals  in  the  wall;  but  as  the  oils  and 
gums  with  which  the  lamps  in  these  passages  were  fed 
diffused  a  dim  vapour  around,  it  was  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain, from  the  imperfect  light,  either  the  shape  of  the 
hall  or  the  style  of  its  architecture.  At  the  upper  and 
lower  ends  of  the  chamber  there  was  a  stronger  and 
clearer  light.  It  was  when  they  were  in  the  middle  of 
this  huge  and  long  apartment  that  Achilles  said  to  the 
soldier,   in  the   sort  of  cautionary  whisper  which  he 

52 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

appeared  to  have  substituted  in  place  of  his  natural 
voice  since  he  had  crossed  the  Bridge  of  Peril  — 

'Remain  here  till  I  return,  and  stir  from  this  hall  on 
no  account.' 

*To  hear  is  to  obey,'  answered  the  Varangian,  an 
expression  of  obedience  which,  Hke  many  other  phrases 
and  fashions,  the  empire,  which  still  affected  the  name  of 
Roman,  had  borrowed  from  the  barbarians  of  the  East. 
Achilles  Tatius  then  hastened  up  the  steps  which  led  to 
one  of  the  side-doors  of  the  hall,  which  being  slightly 
pressed,  its  noiseless  hinge  gave  way  and  admitted 
him. 

Left  alone  to  amuse  himself  as  he  best  could,  within 
the  limits  permitted  to  him,  the  Varangian  visited  in  suc- 
cession both  ends  of  the  hall,  where  the  objects  were 
more  visible  than  elsewhere.  The  lower  end  had  in  its 
centre  a  small  low-browed  door  of  iron.  Over  it  was  dis- 
played the  Greek  crucifix  in  bronze,  and  around  and 
on  every  side  the  representation  of  shackles,  fetter-bolts, 
and  the  like  were  also  executed  in  bronze,  and  disposed 
as  appropriate  ornaments  over  the  entrance.  The  door 
of  the  dark  archway  was  half  open,  and  Hereward  natu- 
rally looked  in,  the  orders  of  his  chief  not  prohibiting 
his  satisfying  his  curiosity  thus  far.  A  dense  red  light, 
more  like  a  distant  spark  than  a  lamp,  afiixed  to  the  wall 
of  what  seemed  a  very  narrow  and  winding  stair,  re- 
sembling in  shape  and  size  a  draw-well,  the  verge  of 
which  opened  on  the  threshold  of  the  iron  door,  showed 
a  descent  which  seemed  to  conduct  to  the  infernal  re- 
gions. The  Varangian,  however  obtuse  he  might  be  con- 
sidered by  the  quick-witted  Greeks,  had  no  difficulty 
in  comprehending  that  a  staircase  having  such  a  gloomy 

53 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

appearance,  and  the  access  to  which  was  by  a  portal 
decorated  in  such  a  melancholy  style  of  architecture, 
could  only  lead  to  the  dungeons  of  the  imperial  palace, 
the  size  and  complicated  number  of  which  were  neither 
the  least  remarkable  nor  the  least  awe-imposing  portion 
of  the  sacred  edifice.  Listening  profoundly,  he  even 
thought  he  caught  such  accents  as  befit  those  graves 
of  living  men,  the  faint  echoing  of  groans  and  sighs, 
sounding  as  it  were  from  the  deep  abyss  beneath.  But  in 
this  respect  his  fancy  probably  filled  up  the  sketch  which 
his  conjectures  bodied  out. 

*I  have  done  nothing,'  he  thought,  'to  merit  being 
immured  in  one  of  these  subterranean  dens.  Surely, 
though  my  captain,  Achilles  Tatius,  is,  under  favour, 
little  better  than  an  ass,  he  cannot  be  so  false  of  word  as 
to  train  me  to  prison  under  false  pretexts?  I  trow  he  shall 
first  see  for  the  last  time  how  the  English  axe  plays,  if 
such  is  to  be  the  sport  of  the  evening.  But  let  us  see  the 
upper  end  of  this  enormous  vault;  it  may  bear  a  better 
omen.' 

Thus  thinking,  and  not  quite  ruling  the  tramp  of  his 
armed  footstep  according  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  place, 
the  large-limbed  Saxon  strode  to  the  upper  end  of  the 
black  marble  hall.  The  ornament  of  the  portal  here 
was  a  small  altar,  like  those  in  the  temples  of  the  heathen 
deities,  which  projected  above  the  centre  of  the  arch.  On 
this  altar  smoked  incense  of  some  sort,  the  fumes  of  which 
rose  curling  in  a  thin  cloud  to  the  roof,  and  thence  ex- 
tending through  the  hall,  enveloped  in  its  column  of 
smoke  a  singular  emblem,  of  which  the  Varangian  could 
make  nothing.  It  was  the  representation  of  two  human 
arms  and  hands,  seeming  to  issue  from  the  wall,  having 

54 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  palms  extended  and  open,  as  about  to  confer  some 
boon  on  those  who  approached  the  altar.  These  arms 
were  formed  of  bronze,  and,  being  placed  farther  back 
than  the  altar  with  its  incense,  were  seen  through  the 
curling  smoke  by  lamps  so  disposed  as  to  illuminate  the 
whole  archway.  'The  meaning  of  this,'  thought  the 
simple  barbarian,  'I  should  well  know  how  to  explain 
were  these  fists  clenched,  and  were  the  hall  dedicated 
to  the  pancration,  which  we  call  boxing;  but  as  even 
these  helpless  Greeks  use  not  their  hands  without  their 
fingers  being  closed,  by  St.  George,  I  can  make  out 
nothing  of  their  meaning.' 

At  this  instant  Achilles  entered  the  black  marble  hall 
at  the  same  door  by  which  he  had  left  it,  and  came  up 
to  his  neophyte,  as  the  Varangian  might  be  termed. 

'Come  with  me  now,  Hereward,  for  here  approaches 
the  thick  of  the  onset.  Now  display  the  utmost  courage 
that  thou  canst  summon  up,  for,  believe  me,  thy  credit 
and  name  also  depend  on  it.' 

'Fear  nothing  for  either,'  said  Hereward,  'if  the  heart 
or  hand  of  one  man  can  bear  him  through  the  adventure 
by  the  help  of  a  toy  like  this.' 

*  Keep  thy  voice  low  and  submissive,  I  have  told  thee  a 
score  of  times,'  said  the  leader,  'and  lower  thine  axe, 
which,  as  I  bethink  me,  thou  hadst  better  leave  in  the 
outer  apartment.' 

'With  your  leave,  noble  captain,'  replied  Hereward, 
'  I  am  unwilling  to  lay  aside  my  bread-winner.  I  am  one 
of  those  awkward  clowns  who  cannot  behave  seemly  un- 
less I  have  something  to  occupy  my  hands,  and  my 
faithful  battle-axe  comes  most  natural  to  me.' 

'Keep  it  then;  but  remember  thou  dash  it  not  about 

55 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

according  to  thy  custom,  nor  bellow,  nor  shout,  nor  cry 
as  in  a  battle-field;  think  of  the  sacred  character  of  the 
place,  which  exaggerates  riot  into  blasphemy,  and  re- 
member the  persons  whom  thou  mayst  chance  to  see, 
an  offence  to  some  of  whom,  it  may  be,  ranks  in  the  same 
sense  with  blasphemy  against  Heaven  itself.' 

This  lecture  carried  the  tutor  and  the  pupil  so  far  as  to 
the  side-door,  and  thence  inducted  them  into  a  species 
of  ante-room,  from  which  Achilles  led  his  Varangian 
forward,  until  a  pair  of  folding-doors,  opening  into  what 
proved  to  be  a  principal  apartment  of  the  palace,  ex- 
hibited to  the  rough-hewn  native  of  the  North  a  sight 
equally  new  and  surprising. 

It  was  an  apartment  of  the  palace  of  the  Blacquernal, 
dedicated  to  the  special  service  of  the  beloved  daughter 
of  the  Emperor  Alexius,  the  Princess  Anna  Comnena, 
known  to  our  times  by  her  literary  talents,  which  record 
the  history  of  her  father's  reign.  She  was  seated,  the 
queen  and  sovereign  of  a  literary  circle,  such  as  an  im- 
perial princess  porphyrogenita,  or  born  in  the  sacred 
purple  chamber  itself,  could  assemble  in  those  days,  and 
a  glance  around  will  enable  us  to  form  an  idea  of  her 
guests,  or  companions. 

The  literary  princess  herself  had  the  bright  eyes, 
straight  features,  and  comely  and  pleasing  manners  which 
all  would  have  allowed  to  the  Emperor's  daughter,  even 
if  she  could  not  have  been,  with  severe  truth,  said  to  have 
possessed  them.  She  was  placed  upon  a  small  bench  or 
sofa,  the  fair  sex  here  not  being  permitted  to  recline,  as 
was  the  fashion  of  the  Roman  ladies.  A  table  before  her 
was  loaded  with  books,  plants,  herbs,  and  drawings.  She 
sat  on  a  slight  elevation,  and  those  who  enjoyed  the  inti- 

56 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

macy  of  the  Princess,  or  to  whom  she  wished  to  speak  in 
particular,  were  allowed,  during  such  sublime  colloquy, 
to  rest  their  knees  on  the  little  dais  or  elevated  place 
where  her  chair  found  its  station,  in  a  posture  half  stand- 
ing, half  kneehng.  Three  other  seats,  of  different  heights, 
were  placed  on  the  dais,  and  under  the  same  canopy  of 
state  which  overshadowed  that  of  the  Princess  Anna. 

The  first,  which  strictly  resembled  her  own  chair  in 
size  and  convenience,  was  one  designed  for  her  husband, 
Nicephorus  Briennius.  He  was  said  to  entertain  or  affect 
the  greatest  respect  for  his  wife's  erudition,  though  the 
courtiers  were  of  opinion  he  would  have  hked  to  ab- 
sent himself  from  her  evening  parties  more  frequently 
than  was  particularly  agreeable  to  the  Princess  Anna 
and  her  imperial  parents.  This  was  partly  explained  by 
the  private  tattle  of  the  court,  which  averred  that  the 
Princess  Anna  Comnena  had  been  more  beautiful  when 
she  was  less  learned,  and  that,  though  still  a  fine  woman, 
she  had  somewhat  lost  the  charms  of  her  person  as  she 
became  enriched  in  her  mind. 

To  atone  for  the  lowly  fashion  of  the  seat  of  Nice- 
phorus Briennius,  it  was  placed  as  near  to  his  princess  as 
it  could  possibly  be  edged  by  the  ushers,  so  that  she 
might  not  lose  one  look  of  her  handsome  spouse,  nor  he 
the  least  particle  of  wisdom  which  might  drop  from  the 
lips  of  his  erudite  consort. 

Two  other  seats  of  honour,  or  rather  thrones  —  for 
they  had  footstools  placed  for  the  support  of  the  feet, 
rests  for  the  arms,  and  embroidered  pillows  for  the  com- 
fort of  the  back,  not  to  mention  the  glories  of  the  out- 
spreading canopy  —  were  destined  for  the  imperial  cou- 
ple, who  frequently  attended  their  daughter's  studies, 

57 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

which  she  prosecuted  in  public  in  the  way  we  have  inti- 
mated. On  such  occasions,  the  Empress  Irene  enjoyed 
the  triumph  peculiar  to  the  mother  of  an  accomplished 
daughter,  while  Alexius,  as  it  might  happen,  sometimes 
listened  with  complacence  to  the  rehearsal  of  his  own 
exploits  in  the  inflated  language  of  the  Princess,  and 
sometimes  mildly  nodded  over  her  dialogues  upon  the 
mysteries  of  philosophy  with  the  Patriarch  Zosimus  and 
other  sages. 

All  these  four  distinguished  seats  for  the  persons  of 
the  imperial  family  were  occupied  at  the  moment  which 
we  have  described,  excepting  that  which  ought  to  have 
been  filled  by  Nicephorus  Briennius,  the  husband  of  the 
fair  Anna  Comnena.  To  his  negligence  and  absence  was 
perhaps  owing  the  angry  spot  on  the  brow  of  the  fair 
bride.  Beside  her  on  the  platform  were  two  white-robed 
nymphs  of  her  household  —  female  slaves,  in  a  word  — 
who  reposed  themselves  on  their  knees  on  cushions, 
when  their  assistance  was  not  wanted  as  a  species  of 
living  book-desks,  to  support  and  extend  the  parchment 
rolls  in  which  the  Princess  recorded  her  own  wisdom,  or 
from  which  she  quoted  that  of  others.  One  of  these 
young  maidens,  called  Astarte,  was  so  distinguished  as 
a  calligrapher,  or  beautiful  writer  of  various  alphabets 
and  languages,  that  she  narrowly  escaped  being  sent 
as  a  present  to  the  Caliph  (who  could  neither  read  nor 
write),  at  a  time  when  it  was  necessary  to  bribe  him  into 
peace.  Violante,  usually  called  the  Muse,  the  other 
attendant  of  the  Princess,  a  mistress  of  the  vocal  and 
instrumental  art  of  music,  was  actually  sent  in  a  compli- 
ment to  soothe  the  temper  of  Robert  Guiscard,  the  Arch- 
duke of  Apulia,  who,  being  aged  and  stone-deaf,  and  the 

58 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

girl  under  ten  years  old  at  the  time,  returned  the  valued 
present  to  the  imperial  donor,  and,  with  the  selfishness 
which  was  one  of  that  wily  Norman's  characteristics, 
desired  to  have  some  one  sent  him  who  could  contribute 
to  his  pleasure,  instead  of  a  twangUng,  squalling  infant. 
Beneath  these  elevated  seats  there  sat,  or  reposed  on 
the  floor  of  the  hall,  such  favourites  as  were  admitted. 
The  Patriarch  Zosimus,  and  one  or  two  old  men,  were 
permitted  the  use  of  certain  lowly  stools,  which  were  the 
only  seats  prepared  for  the  learned  members  of  the  Prin- 
cess's evening  parties,  as  they  would  have  been  called 
in  our  days.  As  for  the  younger  magnates,  the  honour 
of  being  permitted  to  join  the  imperial  conversation 
was  expected  to  render  them  far  superior  to  the  paltry 
accommodation  of  a  joint-stool.  Five  or  six  courtiers, 
of  different  dress  and  ages,  might  compose  the  party, 
who  either  stood,  or  relieved  their  posture  by  kneeling, 
along  the  verge  of  an  adorned  fountain,  which  shed  a 
mist  of  such  very  small  rain  as  to  dispel  almost  insen- 
sibly, cooling  the  fragrant  breeze  which  breathed  from 
the  flowers  and  shrubs,  that  were  so  disposed  as  to  send 
a  waste  of  sweets  around.  One  goodly  old  man,  named 
Michael  Agelastes,  big,  burly,  and  dressed  like  an  an- 
cient Cynic  philosopher,  was  distinguished  by  assuming, 
in  a  great  measure,  the  ragged  garb  and  mad  bearing  of 
that  sect,  and  by  his  inflexible  practice  of  the  strictest 
ceremonies  exigible  by  the  imperial  family.  He  was 
known  by  an  affectation  of  cynical  principal  and  lan- 
guage, and  of  republican  philosophy,  strangely  contra- 
dicted by  his  practical  deference  to  the  great.  It  was 
wonderful  how  long  this  man,  now  sixty  years  old  and 
upwards,  disdained  to  avail  himself  of  the  accustomed 

59 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

privilege  of  leaning  or  supporting  his  limbs,  and  with 
what  regularity  he  maintained  either  the  standing  pos- 
ture or  that  of  absolute  kneeling;  but  the  first  was  so 
much  his  usual  attitude,  that  he  acquired  among  his 
court  friends  the  name  of  Elephas,  or  the  Elephant,  be- 
cause the  ancients  had  an  idea  that  the  half-reasoning 
animal,  as  it  is  called,  has  joints  incapable  of  kneeling 
down. 

'  Yet  I  have  seen  them  kneel  when  I  was  in  the  country 
of  the  Gymnosophists,'  said  a  person  present  on  the 
evening  of  Hereward's  introduction. 

'To  take  up  their  master  on  their  shoulders?  so  wiU 
ours,'  said  the  Patriarch  Zosimus,  with  the  slight  sneer 
which  was  the  nearest  advance  to  a  sarcasm  that  the 
etiquette  of  the  Greek  court  permitted;  for  on  all  ordi- 
nary occasions  it  would  not  have  offended  the  presence 
more  surely  literally  to  have  drawn  a  poniard  than  to 
exchange  a  repartee  in  the  imperial  circle.  Even  the 
sarcasm,  such  as  it  was,  would  have  been  thought  cen- 
surable by  that  ceremonious  court  in  any  but  the  Patri- 
arch to  whose  high  rank  some  license  was  allowed. 

Just  as  he  had  thus  far  offended  decorum,  Achilles 
Tatius  and  his  soldier  Hereward  entered  the  apartment. 
The  former  bore  him  with  even  more  than  his  usual  de- 
gree of  courtliness,  as  if  to  set  his  own  good-breeding  off 
by  a  comparison  with  the  inexpert  bearing  of  his  fol- 
lower; while,  nevertheless,  he  had  a  secret  pride  in  ex- 
hibiting, as  one  under  his  own  immediate  and  distinct 
command,  a  man  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  consider 
as  one  of  the  finest  soldiers  in  the  army  of  Alexius, 
whether  appearance  or  reality  were  to  be  considered. 

Some  astonishment  followed  the  abrupt  entrance  of  the 

60 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

newcomers.  Achilles  indeed  glided  into  the  presence  with 
the  easy  and  quiet  extremity  of  respect  which  intimated 
his  habitude  in  these  regions.  But  Hereward  started  on 
his  entrance,  and,  perceiving  himself  in  company  of  the 
court,  hastily  strove  to  remedy  his  disorder.  His  com- 
mander, throwing  round  a  scarce  visible  shrug  of  apol- 
ogy, made  then  a  confidential  and  monitory  sign  to  Here- 
ward to  mind  his  conduct.  What  he  meant  was,  that  he 
should  doff  his  helmet  and  fall  prostrate  on  the  ground. 
But  the  Anglo-Saxon,  unaccustomed  to  interpret  ob- 
scure inferences,  naturally  thought  of  his  military  duties, 
and  advanced  in  front  of  the  Emperor,  as  when  he  ren- 
dered his  military  homage.  He  made  reverence  with  his 
knee,  half  touched  his  cap,  and  then  recovering  and 
shouldering  his  axe,  stood  in  advance  of  the  imperial 
chair,  as  if  on  duty  as  a  sentinel. 

A  gentle  smile  of  surprise  went  round  the  circle  as 
they  gazed  on  the  manly  appearance,  and  somewhat 
unceremonious,  but  martial,  deportment  of  the  Northern 
soldier.  The  various  spectators  around  consulted  the 
Emperor's  face,  not  knowing  whether  they  were  to  take 
the  intrusive  manner  of  the  Varangian's  entrance  as  mat- 
ter of  ill-breeding,  and  manifest  their  horror,  or  whether 
they  ought  rather  to  consider  the  bearing  of  the  life- 
guardsman  as  indicating  blunt  and  manly  zeal,  and 
therefore  to  be  received  with  applause. 

It  was  some  Httle  time  ere  the  Emperor  recovered 
himself  sufficiently  to  strike  a  key-note,  as  was  usual 
upon  such  occasions.  Alexius  Comnenus  had  been  wrapt 
for  a  moment  into  some  species  of  slumber,  or  at  least 
absence  of  mind.  Out  of  this  he  had  been  startled  by  the 
sudden  appearance  of  the  Varangian;  for,  though  he  was 

6i 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

accustomed  to  commit  the  outer  guards  of  the  palace  to 
this  trusty  corps,  yet  the  deformed  blacks  whom  we  have 
mentioned,  and  who  sometimes  rose  to  be  ministers  of 
state  and  commanders  of  armies,  were,  on  all  ordinary 
occasions,  entrusted  with  the  guard  of  the  interior  of 
the  palace.  Alexius,  therefore,  awakened  from  his  slum- 
ber, and  the  military  phrase  of  his  daughter  still  ringing 
in  his  ears,  as  she  was  reading  a  description  of  the  great 
historical  work  in  which  she  had  detailed  the  conflicts 
of  his  reign,  felt  somewhat  unprepared  for  the  entrance 
and  military  deportment  of  one  of  the  Saxon  guard, 
with  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  associate,  in  general, 
scenes  of  blows,  danger,  and  death. 

After  a  troubled  glance  around,  his  look  rested  on 
Achilles  Tatius.  'Why  here,'  he  said,  'trusty  Follower? 
why  this  soldier  here  at  this  time  of  night?'  Here,  of 
course,  was  the  moment  for  modelling  the  visages  regis 
ad  exemplum;  but,  ere  the  Patriarch  could  frame  his 
countenance  into  devout  apprehension  of  danger, 
Achilles  Tatius  had  spoken  a  word  or  two,  which  re- 
minded Alexius's  memory  that  the  soldier  had  been 
brought  there  by  his  own  special  orders.  'Oh,  ay!  true, 
good  fellow,'  said  he,  smoothing  his  troubled  brow; 
*we  had  forgot  that  passage  among  the  cares  of  state.' 
He  then  spoke  to  the  Varangian  with  a  countenance  more 
frank,  and  a  heartier  accent,  than  he  used  to  his  courtiers ; 
for,  to  a  despotic  monarch,  a  faithful  life-guardsman  is  a 
person  of  confidence,  while  an  officer  of  high  rank  is 
always  in  some  degree  a  subject  of  distrust.  'Ha!'  said 
he,  '  our  worthy  Anglo-Dane,  how  fares  he? '  This  un- 
ceremonious salutation  surprised  all  but  him  to  whom 
it  was  addressed.  Hereward  answered,  accompanying 

62 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

his  words  with  a  military  obeisance  which  partook  of 
heartiness  rather  than  reverence,  with  a  loud  unsub- 
dued voice,  which  startled  the  presence  still  more  that 
the  language  was  Saxon,  which  these  foreigners  occasion- 
ally used,  ^Waes  hael,  Kaisar  mirrig  und  machtighl'  — 
that  is,  'Be  of  good  health,  stout  and  mighty  Emperor.' 
The  Emperor,  with  a  smile  of  intelligence,  to  show  he 
could  speak  to  his  guards  in  their  own  foreign  language, 
replied  by  the  well-known  counter-signal  —  'Drinc 
haell ' 

Immediately  a  page  brought  a  silver  goblet  of  wine. 
The  Emperor  put  his  lips  to  it,  though  he  scarce  tasted 
the  liquor,  then  commanded  it  to  be  handed  to  Here- 
ward,  and  bade  the  soldier  drink.  The  Saxon  did  not  wait 
till  he  was  desired  a  second  time,  but  took  off  the  con- 
tents without  hesitation.  A  gentle  smile,  decorous  as  the 
presence  required,  passed  over  the  assembly  at  a  feat 
which,  though  by  no  means  wonderful  in  a  hyperborean, 
seemed  prodigious  in  the  estimation  of  the  moderate 
Greeks.  Alexius  himself  laughed  more  loudly  than  his 
courtiers  thought  might  be  becoming  on  their  part,  and 
mustering  what  few  words  of  Varangian  he  possessed, 
which  he  eked  out  with  Greek,  demanded  of  his  life- 
guardsman  —  '  Well,  my  bold  Briton,  or  Edward,  as 
men  call  thee,  dost  thou  know  the  flavour  of  that  wine? ' 

'Yes,'  answered  the  Varangian,  without  change  of 
countenance, '  I  tasted  it  once  before  at  Laodicea  — ' 

Here  his  officer,  Achilles  Tatius,  became  sensible  that 
his  soldier  approached  delicate  ground,  and  in  vain 
endeavoured  to  gain  his  attention,  in  order  that  he  might 
furtively  convey  to  him  a  hint  to  be  silent,  or  at  least 
take  heed  what  he  said  in  such  a  presence.    But  the 

63 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

soldier,  who,  with  proper  military  observance,  continued 
to  have  his  eye  and  attention  fixed  on  the  Emperor,  as 
the  prince  whom  he  was  bound  to  answer  or  to  serve, 
saw  none  of  the  hints,  which  Achilles  at  length  suffered 
to  become  so  broad,  that  Zosimus  and  the  Protospath- 
aire  exchanged  expressive  glances,  as  calling  on  each 
other  to  notice  the  bye-play  of  the  leader  of  the  Varan- 
gians. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  dialogue  between  the  Em- 
peror and  his  soldier  continued:  —  'How,'  said  Alexius, 
*  did  this  draught  relish,  compared  with  the  former? ' 

'There  is  fairer  company  here,  my  hege,  than  that  of 
the  Arabian  archers,'  answered  Hereward,  with  a  look 
and  bow  of  instinctive  good-breeding.  'Nevertheless, 
there  lacks  the  flavour  which  the  heat  of  the  sun,  the 
dust  of  the  combat,  with  the  fatigue  of  wielding  such  a 
weapon  as  this  (advancing  his  axe)  for  eight  hours  to- 
gether, give  to  a  cup  of  rare  wine.' 

'Another  deficiency  there  might  be,'  said  Agelastes 
the  Elephant,  'provided  I  am  pardoned  hinting  at  it,' 
he  added,  with  a  look  to  the  throne:  'it  might  be  the 
smaller  size  of  the  cup  compared  with  that  at  Lao- 
dicea.' 

'By  Taranis,  you  say  true,'  answered  the  life-guards- 
man; 'at  Laodicea  I  used  my  helmet.' 

'Let  us  see  the  cups  compared  together,  good  friend,' 
said  Agelastes,  continuing  his  raillery,  'that  we  may 
be  sure  thou  hast  not  swallowed  the  present  goblet;  for 
I  thought,  from  the  manner  of  the  draught,  there  was 
a  chance  of  its  going  down  with  its  contents.' 

'  There  are  some  things  which  I  do  not  easily  swallow,' 
answered  the  Varangian,  in  a  calm  and  indifferent  tone; 

64 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'but  they  must  come  from  a  younger  and  more  active 
man  than  you.' 

The  company  again  smiled  to  each  other,  as  if  to  hint 
that  the  philosopher,  though  also  parcel  wit  by  profes- 
sion, had  the  worst  of  the  encounter. 

The  Emperor  at  the  same  time  interfered  —  '  Nor  did 
I  send  for  thee  hither,  good  fellow,  to  be  baited  by  idle 
taunts.' 

Here  Agelastes  shrunk  back  in  the  circle,  as  a  hound 
that  has  been  rebuked  by  the  huntsman  for  babbling; 
and  the  Princess  Anna  Comnena,  who  had  indicated  by 
her  fair  features  a  certain  degree  of  impatience,  at  length 
spoke  —  *  Will  it  then  please  you,  my  imperial  and  much- 
beloved  father,  to  inform  those  blessed  with  admission 
to  the  Muses'  temple  for  what  it  is  that  you  have  or- 
dered this  soldier  to  be  this  night  admitted  to  a  place  so 
far  above  his  rank  in  life?  Permit  me  to  say,  we  ought 
not  to  waste,  in  frivolous  and  silly  jests,  the  time  which 
is  sacred  to  the  welfare  of  the  empire,  as  every  moment 
of  your  leisure  must  be.' 

'Our  daughter  speaks  wisely,'  said  the  Empress  Irene, 
who,  like  most  mothers  who  do  not  possess  much  talent 
themselves,  and  are  not  very  capable  of  estimating  it  in 
others,  was,  nevertheless,  a  great  admirer  of  her  favour- 
ite daughter's  accomplishments,  and  ready  to  draw  them 
out  on  all  occasions.  'Permit  me  to  remark,  that  in  this 
divine  and  selected  palace  of  the  Muses,  dedicated  to  the 
studies  of  our  well-beloved  and  highly-gifted  daughter, 
whose  pen  will  preserve  your  reputation,  our  most  im- 
perial husband,  till  the  desolation  of  the  universe,  and 
which  enKvens  and  delights  this  society,  the  very  flower 
of  the  wits  of  our  sublime  court  —  permit  me  to  say,  that 
43  65 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

we  have,  merely  by  admitting  a  single  life-guardsman, 
given  our  conversation  the  character  of  that  which  dis- 
tinguishes a  barrack.' 

Now  the  Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  had  the  same 
feeling  with  many  an  honest  man  in  ordinary  life  when 
his  wife  begins  a  long  oration,  especially  as  the  Empress 
Irene  did  not  always  retain  the  observance  consistent 
with  his  awful  rule  and  right  supremacy,  although  es- 
pecially severe  in  exacting  it  from  all  others  in  reference 
to  her  lord.  Therefore,  though  he  had  felt  some  pleasure 
in  gaining  a  short  release  from  the  monotonous  recitation 
of  the  Princess's  history,  he  now  saw  the  necessity  of 
resuming  it,  or  of  listening  to  the  matrimonial  eloquence 
of  the  Empress.  He  sighed,  therefore,  as  he  said,  'I  crave 
your  pardon,  good  our  imperial  spouse,  and  our  daughter 
born  in  the  purple  chamber.  I  remember  me,  our  most 
amiable  and  accomplished  daughter,  that  last  night  you 
wished  to  know  the  particulars  of  the  battle  of  Laodicea 
with  the  heathenish  Arabs,  whom  Heaven  confound. 
And  for  certain  considerations  which  moved  ourselves 
to  add  other  inquiries  to  our  own  recollection,  Achilles 
Tatius,  our  most  trusty  Follower,  was  commissioned  to 
introduce  into  this  place  one  of  those  soldiers  under  his 
command,  being  such  a  one  whose  courage  and  presence 
of  mind  could  best  enable  him  to  remark  what  passed 
around  him  on  that  remarkable  and  bloody  day.  And 
this  I  suppose  to  be  the  man  brought  to  us  for  that  pur- 
pose.' 

'If  I  am  permitted  to  speak  and  live,'  answered  the 
Follower,  'your  Imperial  Highness,  with  those  divine 
Princesses,  whose  name  is  to  us  as  those  of  blessed 
saints,  have  in  your  presence  the  flower  of  my  Anglo- 

66 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Danes,  or  whatsoever  unbaptized  name  is  given  to  my 
soldiers.  He  is,  as  I  may  say,  a  barbarian  of  bar- 
barians; for  although  in  birth  and  breeding  unfit  to 
soil  with  his  feet  the  carpet  of  this  precinct  of  accom- 
plishment and  eloquence,  he  is  so  brave,  so  trusty, 
so  devotedly  attached,  and  so  unhesitatingly  zealous, 
that—' 

'Enough,  good  Follower,'  said  the  Emperor;  'let  us 
only  know  that  he  is  cool  and  observant,  not  confused 
and  fluttered  during  close  battle,  as  we  have  sometimes 
observed  in  you  and  other  great  commanders,  and,  to 
speak  truth,  have  even  felt  in  our  imperial  self  on  ex- 
traordinary occasions;  which  difference  in  man's  consti- 
tution is  not  owing  to  any  inferiority  of  courage,  but,  in 
us,  to  a  certain  consciousness  of  the  importance  of  our 
own  safety  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole,  and  to  a  feeling 
of  the  number  of  duties  which  at  once  devolve  on  us. 
Speak  then,  and  speak  quickly,  Tatius;  for  I  discern 
that  our  dearest  consort,  and  our  thrice  fortunate  daugh- 
ter born  in  the  imperial  chamber  of  purple,  seem  to  wax 
somewhat  impatient.' 

*Hereward,'  answered  Tatius,  'is  as  composed  and 
observant  in  battle  as  another  in  a  festive  dance.  The 
dust  of  war  is  the  breath  of  his  nostrils;  and  he  will 
prove  his  worth  in  combat  against  any  four  others, 
Varangians  excepted,  who  shall  term  themselves  your 
Imperial  Highness's  bravest  servants.' 

'Follower,'  said  the  Emperor,  with  a  displeased  look 
and  tone,  'instead  of  instructing  these  poor,  ignorant 
barbarians  in  the  rules  and  civilisation  of  our  enlightened 
empire,  you  foster,  by  such  boastful  words,  the  idle 
pride  and  fury  of  their  temper,  which  hurries  them  into 

67 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

brawls  with  the  legions  of  other  foreign  countries,  and 
even  breeds  quarrels  among  themselves.' 

*  If  my  mouth  may  be  opened  in  the  way  of  most  hum- 
ble excuse,'  said  the  Follower,  'I  would  presume  to  reply, 
that  I  but  an  hour  hence  talked  with  this  poor  ignorant 
Anglo-Dane  on  the  paternal  care  with  which  the  Im- 
perial Majesty  of  Greece  regards  the  preservation  of  that 
concord  which  unites  the  followers  of  his  standard,  and 
how  desirous  he  is  to  promote  that  harmony,  more 
especially  amongst  the  various  nations  who  have  the 
happiness  to  serve  you,  in  spite  of  the  bloodthirsty  quar- 
rels of  the  Franks  and  other  Northern  men,  who  are 
never  free  from  civil  broil.  I  think  the  poor  youth's  un- 
derstanding can  bear  witness  to  this  much  in  my  behalf.' 
He  then  looked  towards  Here  ward,  who  gravely  inclined 
his  head  in  token  of  assent  to  what  his  captain  said.  His 
excuse  thus  ratified,  Achilles  proceeded  in  his  apology 
more  firmly.  'What  I  have  said  even  now  was  spoken 
without  consideration;  for,  instead  of  pretending  that 
this  Hereward  would  face  four  of  your  Imperial  High- 
ness's  servants,  I  ought  to  have  said  that  he  was  willing 
to  defy  six  of  your  Imperial  Majesty's  most  deadly 
enemies,  and  permit  them  to  choose  every  circumstance 
of  time,  arms,  and  place  of  combat.' 

'That  hath  a  better  sound,'  said  the  Emperor;  'and  in 
truth,  for  the  information  of  my  dearest  daughter,  who 
piously  has  undertaken  to  record  the  things  which  I  have 
been  the  blessed  means  of  doing  for  the  empire,  I  ear- 
nestly wish  that  she  should  remember,  that  though  the 
sword  of  Alexius  hath  not  slept  in  its  sheath,  yet  he  hath 
never  sought  his  own  aggrandisement  of  fame  at  the 
price  of  bloodshed  among  his  subjects.' 

68 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

*I  trust,'  said  Anna  Comnena,  'that,  in  my  humble 
sketch  of  the  life  of  the  princely  sire  from  whom  I  derive 
my  existence,  I  have  not  forgot  to  notice  his  love  of 
peace,  and  care  for  the  lives  of  his  soldiery,  and  abhor- 
rence of  the  bloody  manners  of  the  heretic  Franks,  as 
one  of  his  most  distinguishing  characteristics.' 

Assimiing  then  an  attitude  more  commanding,  as  one 
who  was  about  to  claim  the  attention  of  the  company, 
the  Princess  inclined  her  head  gently  around  to  the 
audience,  and  taking  a  roll  of  parchment  from  the  fair 
amanuensis,  which  she  had,  in  a  most  beautiful  hand- 
writing, engrossed  to  her  mistress's  dictation,  Anna 
Comnena  prepared  to  read  its  contents. 

At  this  moment,  the  eyes  of  the  Princess  rested  for  an 
instant  on  the  barbarian  Hereward,  to  whom  she  deigned 
this  greeting  —  '  Vahant  barbarian,  of  whom  my  fancy 
recalls  some  memory,  as  if  in  a  dream,  thou  art  now  to 
hear  a  work  which,  if  the  author  be  put  into  comparison 
with  the  subject,  might  be  likened  to  a  portrait  of  Alex- 
ander, in  executing  which  some  inferior  dauber  has 
usurped  the  pencil  of  Apelles ;  but  which  essay,  however 
it  may  appear  unworthy  of  the  subject  in  the  eyes  of 
many,  must  yet  command  some  envy  in  those  who  can- 
didly consider  its  contents,  and  the  difficulty  of  portray- 
ing the  great  personage  concerning  whom  it  is  written. 
Still,  I  pray  thee,  give  thine  attention  to  what  I  have 
now  to  read,  since  this  account  of  the  battle  of  Laodicea , 
the  details  thereof  being  principally  derived  from  his  Im- 
perial Highness,  my  excellent  father,  from  the  altogether 
valiant  Protospathaire,  his  invincible  general,  together 
with  Achilles  Tatius,  the  faithful  Follower  of  our  victo- 
rious Emperor,  may  nevertheless  be  in  some  circum- 

69 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

stances  inaccurate.  For  it  is  to  be  thought,  that  the  high 
ofl&ces  of  those  great  commanders  retained  them  at  a 
distance  from  some  particularly  active  parts  of  the  fray, 
in  order  that  they  might  have  more  cool  and  accurate 
opportunity  to  form  a  judgment  upon  the  whole,  and 
transmit  their  orders,  without  being  disturbed  by  any 
thoughts  of  personal  safety.  Even  so,  brave  barbarian, 
in  the  art  of  embroidery  —  marvel  not  that  we  are  a 
proficient  in  that  mechanical  process,  since  it  is  patron- 
ised by  Minerva,  whose  studies  we  affect  to  follow  —  we 
reserve  to  ourselves  the  superintendence  of  the  entire 
web,  and  commit  to  our  maidens  and  others  the  execu- 
tion of  particular  parts.  Thus,  in  the  same  manner, 
thou,  valiant  Varangian,  being  engaged  in  the  very 
thickest  of  the  affray  before  Laodicea,  mayst  point  out 
to  us,  the  unworthy  historian  of  so  renowned  a  war,  those 
chances  which  befell  where  men  fought  hand  to  hand, 
and  where  the  fate  of  war  was  decided  by  the  edge  of  the 
sword.  Therefore,  dread  not,  thou  bravest  of  the  axe- 
men to  whom  we  owe  that  victory,  and  so  many  others, 
to  correct  any  mistake  or  misapprehension  which  we 
may  have  been  led  into  concerning  the  details  of  that 
glorious  event.' 

'Madam,'  said  the  Varangian,  *I  shall  attend  with 
diligence  to  what  your  Highness  may  be  pleased  to  read 
to  me;  although,  as  to  presuming  to  blame  the  history 
of  a  princess  born  in  the  purple,  far  be  such  a  presump- 
tion from  me;  still  less  would  it  become  a  barbaric  Varan- 
gian to  pass  a  judgment  on  the  military  conduct  of  the 
Emperor,  by  whom  he  is  liberally  paid,  or  of  the  com- 
mander, by  whom  he  is  well  treated.  Before  an  action, 
if  our  advice  is  required,  it  is  ever  faithfully  tendered; 

70 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

but,  according  to  my  rough  wit,  our  censure  after  the 
field  is  fought  would  be  more  invidious  than  useful. 
Touching  the  Protospathaire,  if  it  be  the  duty  of  a  gen- 
eral to  absent  himself  from  close  action,  I  can  safely 
say,  or  swear,  were  it  necessary,  that  the  invincible 
commander  was  never  seen  by  me  within  a  javelin's 
cast  of  aught  that  looked  like  danger.' 

This  speech,  boldly  and  bluntly  delivered,  had  a 
general  effect  on  the  company  present.  The  Emperor 
himself  and  Achilles  Tatius  looked  Hke  men  who  had 
got  off  from  a  danger  better  than  they  expected.  The 
Protospathaire  laboured  to  conceal  a  movement  of  re- 
sentment. Agelastes  whispered  to  the  Patriarch,  near 
whom  he  was  placed,  'The  Northern  battle-axe  lacks 
neither  point  nor  edge.' 

*Hush!'  said  Zosimus,  'let  us  hear  how  this  is  to  end: 
the  Princess  is  about  to  speak.' 


CHAPTER  IV 

We  heard  the  tecbir,  so  these  Arabs  call 
Their  shout  of  onset,  when  with  loud  acclaim 
They  challenged  Heaven,  as  if  demanding  conquest. 
The  battle  join'd,  and,  through  the  barb'rous  herd, 
'Fight  —  fightl'  and  'Paradisel'  was  all  their  cry. 

The  Siege  of  Damascus. 

The  voice  of  the  Northern  soldier,  although  modified  by 
feelings  of  respect  to  the  Emperor,  and  even  attachment 
to  his  captain,  had  more  of  a  tone  of  blunt  sincerity, 
nevertheless,  than  was  usually  heard  by  the  sacred 
echoes  of  the  imperial  palace;  and  though  the  Princess 
Anna  Comnena  began  to  think  that  she  had  invoked  the 
opinion  of  a  severe  judge,  she  was  sensible,  at  the  same 
time,  by  the  deference  of  his  manner,  that  his  respect 
was  of  a  character  more  real,  and  his  applause,  should 
she  gain  it,  would  prove  more  truly  flattering,  than  the 
gilded  assent  of  the  whole  court  of  her  father.  She  gazed 
with  some  surprise  and  attention  on  Hereward,  already 
described  as  a  very  handsome  young  man,  and  felt  the 
natural  desire  to  please  which  is  easily  created  in  the 
mind  towards  a  fine  person  of  the  other  sex.  His  attitude 
was  easy  and  bold,  but  neither  clownish  nor  imcourtly. 
His  title  of  a  barbarian  placed  him  at  once  free  from  the 
forms  of  civilised  life  and  the  rules  of  artificial  polite- 
ness. But  his  character  for  valour,  and  the  noble  self- 
confidence  of  his  bearing,  gave  him  a  deeper  interest 
than  would  have  been  acquired  by  a  more  studied  and 
anxious  address,  or  an  excess  of  reverential  awe. 
1    In  short,  the  Princess  Anna  Comnena,  high  in  rank  as 

72 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

she  was,  and  born  in  the  imperial  purple,  which  she  her- 
self deemed  the  first  of  all  attributes,  felt  herself,  never- 
theless, in  preparing  to  resume  the  recitation  of  her  his- 
tory, more  anxious  to  obtain  the  approbation  of  this 
rude  soldier  than  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  courteous 
audience.  She  knew  them  well,  it  is  true,  and  felt  no- 
wise solicitous  about  the  applause  which  the  daughter  of 
the  Emperor  was  sure  to  receive  with  full  hands  from 
those  of  the  Grecian  court  to  whom  she  might  choose 
to  communicate  the  productions  of  her  father's  daugh- 
ter. But  she  had  now  a  judge  of  a  new  character,  whose 
applause,  if  bestowed,  must  have  something  in  it  intrin- 
sically real,  since  it  could  only  be  obtained  by  affecting 
his  head  or  his  heart. 

It  was  perhaps  under  the  influence  of  these  feelings 
that  the  Princess  was  somewhat  longer  than  usual  in 
finding  out  the  passage  in  the  roll  of  history  at  which  she 
purposed  to  commence.  It  was  also  noticed  that  she 
began  her  recitation  with  a  diffidence  and  embarrass- 
ment surprising  to  the  noble  hearers,  who  had  often 
seen  her  in  full  possession  of  her  presence  of  mind 
before  what  they  conceived  a  more  distinguished,  and 
even  more  critical,  audience. 

Neither  were  the  circumstances  of  the  Varangian  such 
as  rendered  the  scene  indifferent  to  him.  Anna  Com- 
nena  had  indeed  attained  her  fifth  lustre,  and  that  is  a 
period  after  which  Grecian  beauty  is  understood  to  com- 
mence its  decline.  How  long  she  had  passed  that  critical 
period  was  a  secret  to  all  but  the  trusted  ward- women  of 
the  purple  chamber.  Enough,  that  it  was  affirmed  by 
the  popular  tongue,  and  seemed  to  be  attested  by  that 
bent  towards  philosophy  and  literature,  which  is  not 

73 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

supposed  to  be  congenial  to  beauty  in  its  earlier  buds,  to 
amount  to  one  or  two  years  more.  She  might  be  seven- 
and-twenty. 

Still  Anna  Comnena  was,  or  had  very  lately  been,  a 
beauty  of  the  very  first  rank,  and  must  be  supposed  to 
have  still  retained  charms  to  captivate  a  barbarian  of 
the  North;  if,  indeed,  he  himself  was  not  careful  to  main- 
tain a  heedful  recollection  of  the  immeasurable  distance 
between  them.  Indeed,  even  this  recollection  might 
hardly  have  saved  Hereward  from  the  charms  of  this 
enchantress,  bold,  free-born,  and  fearless  as  he  was;  for, 
during  that  time  of  strange  revolutions,  there  were  many 
instances  of  successful  generals  sharing  the  couch  of 
imperial  princesses,  whom  perhaps  they  had  themselves 
rendered  widows,  in  order  to  make  way  for  their  own 
pretensions.  But,  besides  the  influence  of  other  recollec- 
tions, which  the  reader  may  learn  hereafter,  Hereward, 
though  flattered  by  the  unusual  degree  of  attention 
which  the  Princess  bestowed  upon  him,  saw  in  her  only 
the  daughter  of  his  Emperor  and  adopted  liege  lord,  and 
the  wife  of  a  noble  prince,  whom  reason  and  duty  alike 
forbade  him  to  think  of  in  any  other  light. 

It  was  after  one  or  two  preliminary  efforts  that  the 
Princess  Anna  began  her  reading,  with  an  uncertain 
voice,  which  gained  strength  and  fortitude  as  she  pro- 
ceeded with  the  following  passage  from  a  well-known 
part  of  her  history  of  Alexius  Comnenus,  but  which  un- 
fortunately has  not  been  republished  in  the  Byzantine 
historians.  The  narrative  cannot,  therefore,  be  other- 
wise than  acceptable  to  the  antiquarian  reader;  and  the 
Author  hopes  to  receive  the  thanks  of  the  learned  world 
for  the  recovery  of  a  curious  fragment,  which,  without 

74 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

his  exertions,  must  probably  have  passed  to  the  gulf  of 
total  oblivion. 

Cbe  Kctrcat  of  taoUtcea, 

NOW  FIRST  PUBLISHED  FROM  THE  GREEK  OF  THE  PRIN- 
CESS COMNENA's  HISTORY   OF  HER  FATHER 

'The  sun  had  betaken  himself  to  his  bed  in  the  ocean, 
ashamed,  it  would  seem,  to  see  the  immortal  army  of  our 
Most  Sacred  Emperor  Alexius  surrounded  by  those  bar- 
barous hordes  of  unbelieving  barbarians  who,  as  de- 
scribed in  our  last  chapter,  had  occupied  the  various 
passes  both  in  front  and  rear  of  the  Romans,*  secured 
during  the  preceding  night  by  the  wily  barbarians. 
Although,  therefore,  a  triumphant  course  of  advance 
had  brought  us  to  this  point,  it  now  became  a  serious 
and  doubtful  question  whether  our  victorious  eagles 
might  be  able  to  penetrate  any  farther  into  the  country 
of  the  enemy,  or  even  to  retreat  with  safety  into  their 
own. 

'The  extensive  acquaintance  of  the  Emperor  with 
military  affairs,  in  which  he  exceeds  most  living  princes, 
had  induced  him,  on  the  preceding  evening,  to  ascertain, 
with  marvellous  exactitude  and  foresight,  the  precise 
position  of  the  enemy.  In  this  most  necessary  service  he 
employed  certain  light-armed  barbarians,  whose  habits 
and  discipline  had  been  originally  derived  from  the  wilds 
of  Syria;  and,  if  I  am  required  to  speak  according  to  the 
dictation  of  truth,  seeing  she  ought  always  to  sit  upon 
the  pen  of  a  historian,  I  must  needs  say  they  were  infidels 
like  their  enemies;  faithfully  attached,  however,  to  the 

'  More  properly  termed  the  Greeks;  but  we  follow  the  phraseology 
of  the  fair  authoress. 

75 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Roman  service,  and,  as  I  believe,  true  slaves  of  the  Em- 
peror, to  whom  they  communicated  the  information 
required  by  him  respecting  the  position  of  his  dreaded 
opponent  Jezdegerd.  These  men  did  not  bring  in  their 
information  till  long  after  the  hour  when  the  Emperor 
usually  betook  himself  to  rest. 

*  Notwithstanding  this  derangement  of  his  most  sacred 
time,  our  imperial  father,  who  had  postponed  the  cere- 
mony of  disrobing,  so  important  were  the  necessities  of 
the  moment,  continued,  until  deep  in  the  night,  to  hold 
a  council  of  his  wisest  chiefs,  men  whose  depth  of  judg- 
ment might  have  saved  a  sinking  world,  and  who  now 
consulted  what  was  to  be  done  under  the  pressure  of  the 
circumstances  in  which  they  were  now  placed.  And  so 
great  was  the  urgency,  that  all  ordinary  observances  of 
the  household  were  set  aside,  since  I  have  heard  from 
those  who  witnessed  the  fact,  that  the  royal  bed  was  dis- 
played in  the  very  room  where  the  council  assembled, 
and  that  the  sacred  lamp,  called  the  Light  of  the  Council, 
and  which  always  burns  when  the  Emperor  presides  in 
person  over  the  deliberations  of  his  servants,  was  for 
that  night — a  thing  unknown  in  our  annals — fed  with 
unperfumed  oil!!' 

The  fair  speaker  here  threw  her  fine  form  into  an 
attitude  which  expressed  holy  horror,  and  the  hearers 
intimated  their  sympathy  in  the  exciting  cause  by  cor- 
responding signs  of  interest;  as  to  which  we  need  only 
say,  that  the  sigh  of  Achilles  Tatius  was  the  most 
pathetic;  while  the  groan  of  Agelastes  the  Elephant  was 
deepest  and  most  tremendously  bestial  in  its  sound. 
Hereward  seemed  little  moved,  except  by  a  slight  motion 
of  surprise  at  the  wonder  expressed  by  the  others.  The 

76 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Princess,  having  allowed  due  time  for  the  sympathy  of 
her  hearers  to  exhibit  itself,  proceeded  as  follows:  — 

*In  this  melancholy  situation,  when  even  the  best- 
established  and  most  sacred  rites  of  the  imperial  house- 
hold gave  way  to  the  necessity  of  a  hasty  provision  for 
the  morrow,  the  opinions  of  the  counsellors  were  differ- 
ent, according  to  their  tempers  and  habits — a  thing,  by 
the  way,  which  may  be  remarked  as  likely  to  happen 
among  the  best  and  wisest  on  such  occasions  of  doubt 
and  danger. 

*I  do  not  in  this  place  put  down  the  names  and  opin- 
ions of  those  whose  counsels  were  proposed  and  rejected, 
herein  paying  respect  to  the  secrecy  and  freedom  of  de- 
bate justly  attached  to  the  imperial  cabinet.  Enough  it 
is  to  say,  that  some  there  were  who  advised  a  speedy 
attack  upon  the  enemy,  in  the  direction  of  our  original 
advance.  Others  thought  it  was  safer,  and  might  be 
easier,  to  force  our  way  to  the  rear,  and  retreat  by  the 
same  course  which  had  brought  us  hither;  nor  must  it  be 
concealed  that  there  were  persons  of  unsuspected  fidelity 
who  proposed  a  third  course,  safer  indeed  than  the  others, 
but  totally  alien  to  the  mind  of  our  most  magnanimous 
father.  They  recommended  that  a  confidential  slave, 
in  com.pany  with  a  minister  of  the  interior  of  our  im- 
perial palace,  should  be  sent  to  the  tent  of  Jezdegerd,  in 
order  to  ascertain  upon  what  terms  the  barbarian  would 
permit  our  triumphant  father  to  retreat  in  safety  at  the 
head  of  his  victorious  army.  On  learning  such  opinion, 
our  imperial  father  was  heard  to  exclaim,  ''Sancta 
Sophia!"  being  the  nearest  approach  to  an  adjuration 
which  he  has  been  known  to  permit  himself,  and  was 
apparently  about  to  say  something  violent  both  con- 

77 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

cerning  the  dishonour  of  the  advice  and  the  cowardice 
of  those  by  whom  it  was  preferred,  when,  recollecting 
the  mutability  of  human  things,  and  the  misfortune  of 
several  of  his  Majesty's  gracious  predecessors,  some  of 
whom  had  been  compelled  to  surrender  their  sacred 
persons  to  the  infidels  in  the  same  region,  his  Imperial 
Majesty  repressed  his  generous  feelings,  and  only  suf- 
fered his  army  counsellors  to  understand  his  sentiments 
by  a  speech,  in  which  he  declared  so  desperate  and  so 
dishonourable  a  course  would  be  the  last  which  he  would 
adopt  even  in  the  last  extremity  of  danger.  Thus  did  the 
judgment  of  this  mighty  prince  at  once  reject  counsel 
that  seemed  shameful  to  his  arms,  and  thereby  encour- 
age the  zeal  of  his  troops,  while  privately  he  kept  this 
postern  in  reserve,  which  in  utmost  need  might  serve 
for  a  safe,  though  not  altogether,  in  less  urgent  circum- 
stances, an  honourable,  retreat. 

'When  the  discussion  had  reached  this  melancholy 
crisis,  the  renowned  Achilles  Tatius  arrived  with  the 
hopeful  intelligence  that  he  himself  and  some  soldiers  of 
his  corps  had  discovered  an  opening  on  the  left  flank  of 
our  present  encampment,  by  which,  making,  indeed,  a 
considerable  circuit,  but  reaching,  if  we  marched  with 
vigour,  the  town  of  Laodicea,  we  might,  by  falling  back 
on  our  resources,  be  in  some  measure  in  surety  from  the 
enemy. 

'So  soon  as  this  ray  of  hope  darted  on  the  troubled 
mind  of  our  gracious  father,  he  proceeded  to  make  such 
arrangements  as  might  secure  the  full  benefit  of  the 
advantage.  His  Imperial  Highness  would  not  permit  the 
brave  Varangians,  whose  battle-axes  he  accounted  the 
flower  of  his  imperial  army,  to  take  the  advanced  post  of 

78 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

assailants  on  the  present  occasion.  He  repressed  the  love 
of  battle  by  which  these  generous  foreigners  have  been 
at  all  times  distinguished,  and  directed  that  the  Syrian 
forces  in  the  army,  who  have  been  before  mentioned, 
should  be  assembled  with  as  Uttle  noise  as  possible  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  deserted  pass,  with  instructions  to  occupy 
it.  The  good  genius  of  the  empire  suggested  that,  as 
their  speech,  arms,  and  appearance  resembled  those  of 
the  enemy,  they  might  be  permitted  unopposed  to  take 
post  in  the  defile  with  their  light-armed  forces,  and  thus 
secure  it  for  the  passage  of  the  rest  of  the  army,  of  which 
he  proposed  that  the  Varangians,  as  immediately  at- 
tached to  his  own  sacred  person,  should  form  the  van- 
guard. The  well-known  battalions  termed  the  Immor- 
tals came  next,  comprising  the  gross  of  the  army,  and 
forming  the  centre  and  rear.  Achilles  Tatius,  the  faithful 
Follower  of  his  royal  master,  although  mortified  that  he 
was  not  permitted  to  assume  the  charge  of  the  rear, 
which  he  had  proposed  for  himself  and  his  valiant 
troops,  as  the  post  of  danger  at  the  time,  cheerfully 
acquiesced,  nevertheless,  in  the  arrangement  proposed 
by  the  Emperor,  as  most  fit  to  effect  the  imperial  safety, 
and  that  of  the  army. 

'The  imperial  orders,  as  they  were  sent  instantly 
abroad,  were  in  like  manner  executed  with  the  readiest 
punctuality,  the  rather  that  they  indicated  a  course  of 
safety  which  had  been  almost  despaired  of  even  by  the 
oldest  soldiers.  During  the  dead  period  of  time,  when, 
as  the  divine  Homer  tells  us,  gods  and  men  are  alike 
asleep,  it  was  found  that  the  vigilance  and  prudence  of  a 
single  individual  had  provided  safety  for  the  whole 
Roman  army.   The  pinnacles  of  the  mountain  passes 

79 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

were  scarcely  touched  by  the  earliest  beams  of  the  dawn, 
when  these  beams  were  also  reflected  from  the  steel  caps 
and  spears  of  the  Syrians,  under  the  command  of  a  cap- 
tain named  Monastras,  who,  with  his  tribe,  had  attached 
himself  to  the  empire.  The  Emperor,  at  the  head  of  his 
faithful  Varangians,  defiled  through  the  passes,  in  order 
to  gain  that  degree  of  advance  on  the  road  to  the  city  of 
Laodicea  which  was  desired,  so  as  to  avoid  coming  into 
collision  with  the  barbarians. 

*  It  was  a  goodly  sight  to  see  the  dark  mass  of  North- 
em  warriors,  who  now  led  the  van  of  the  army,  moving 
slowly  and  steadily  through  the  defiles  of  the  mountains, 
around  the  insulated  rocks  and  precipices,  and  surmount- 
ing the  gentler  acclivities,  like  the  course  of  a  strong  and 
mighty  river;  while  the  loose  bands  of  archers  and  jave- 
lin-men, armed  after  the  Eastern  manner,  were  dispersed 
on  the  steep  sides  of  the  defiles,  and  might  be  compared 
to  light  foam  upon  the  edge  of  the  torrent.  In  the  midst 
of  the  squadrons  of  the  life-guard  might  be  seen  the 
proud  war-horse  of  his  Imperial  Majesty,  which  pawed 
the  earth  indignantly,  as  if  impatient  at  the  delay  which 
separated  him  from  his  august  burden.  The  Emperor 
Alexius  himself  travelled  in  a  litter,  borne  by  eight  strong 
African  slaves,  that  he  might  rise  perfectly  refreshed  if 
the  army  should  be  overtaken  by  the  enemy.  The  valiant 
Achilles  Tatius  rode  near  the  couch  of  his  master,  that 
none  of  those  luminous  ideas  by  which  our  august  sire 
so  often  decided  the  fate  of  battle  might  be  lost  for  want 
of  instant  communication  to  those  whose  duty  it  was 
to  execute  them.  I  may  also  say,  that  there  were  close 
to  the  litter  of  the  Emperor  three  or  four  carriages  of  the 
same  kind;  one  prepared  for  the  Moon,  as  she  may  be 

80 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

termed,  of  the  universe,  the  gracious  Empress  Irene. 
Among  the  others  which  might  be  mentioned  was  that 
which  contained  the  authoress  of  this  history,  unworthy 
as  she  may  be  of  distinction,  save  as  the  daughter  of  the 
eminent  and  sacred  persons  whom  the  narration  chiefly 
concerns.  In  this  manner  the  imperial  army  pressed  on 
through  the  dangerous  defiles,  where  their  march  was 
exposed  to  insults  from  the  barbarians.  They  were 
happily  cleared  without  any  opposition.  When  we  came 
to  the  descent  of  the  pass  which  looks  down  on  the  city 
of  Laodicea,  the  sagacity  of  the  Emperor  commanded 
the  van  —  which,  though  the  soldiers  composing  the 
same  were  heavily  armed,  had  hitherto  marched  ex- 
tremely fast  —  to  halt,  as  well  that  they  themselves 
might  take  some  repose  and  refreshment  as  to  give  the 
rearward  forces  time  to  come  up,  and  close  various  gaps 
which  the  rapid  movement  of  those  in  front  had  occa- 
sioned in  the  line  of  march. 

'The  place  chosen  for  this  purpose  was  eminently 
beautiful,  from  the  small  and  comparatively  insignifi- 
cant ridge  of  hills  which  melt  irregularly  down  into  the 
plains  stretching  between  the  pass  which  we  occupied 
and  Laodicea.  The  town  was  about  one  hundred  stadia 
distant,  and  some  of  our  more  sanguine  warriors  pre- 
tended that  they  could  already  discern  its  towers  and 
pinnacles,  glittering  in  the  early  beams  of  the  sun,  which 
had  not  as  yet  risen  high  into  the  horizon.  A  mountain 
torrent,  which  found  its  source  at  the  foot  of  a  huge  rock, 
that  yawned  to  give  it  birth,  as  if  struck  by  the  rod  of  the 
prophet  Moses,  poured  its  liquid  treasure  down  to  the 
more  level  country,  nourishing  herbage,  and  even  large 
trees,  in  its  descent,  until,  at  the  distance  of  some  four  or 

43  8i 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

j&ve  miles,  the  stream,  at  least  in  dry  seasons,  was  lost 
amid  heaps  of  sand  and  stones,  which  in  the  rainy  season 
marked  the  strength  and  fury  of  its  current. 

'  It  was  pleasant  to  see  the  attention  of  the  Emperor  to 
the  comforts  of  the  companions  and  guardians  of  his 
march.  The  trumpets  from  time  to  time  gave  license  to 
various  parties  of  the  Varangians  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
to  eat  the  food  which  was  distributed  to  them,  and 
quench  their  thirst  at  the  pure  stream,  which  poured  its 
bounties  down  the  hill,  or  they  might  be  seen  to  extend 
their  bulky  forms  upon  the  turf  around  them.  The 
Emperor,  his  most  serene  spouse,  and  the  princesses  and 
ladies  were  also  served  with  breakfast,  at  the  fountain 
formed  by  the  small  brook  in  its  very  birth,  and  which 
the  reverent  feelings  of  the  soldiers  had  left  unpolluted 
by  vulgar  touch,  for  the  use  of  that  family  emphatically 
said  to  be  born  in  the  purple.  Our  beloved  husband  was 
also  present  on  this  occasion,  and  was  among  the  first 
to  detect  one  of  the  disasters  of  the  day.  For,  although 
all  the  rest  of  the  repast  had  been,  by  the  dexterity  of  the 
officers  of  the  imperial  mouth,  so  arranged,  even  on  so 
awful  an  occasion,  as  to  exhibit  little  difference  from  the 
ordinary  provisions  of  the  household,  yet,  when  his 
Imperial  Highness  called  for  wine,  behold,  not  only  was 
the  sacred  liquor  dedicated  to  his  own  peculiar  imperial 
use  wholly  exhausted  or  left  behind,  but,  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  Horace,  not  the  vilest  Sabine  vintage  could 
be  procured;  so  that  his  Imperial  Highness  was  glad  to 
accept  the  offer  of  a  rude  Varangian,  who  proffered  his 
modicum  of  decocted  barley,  which  these  barbarians 
prefer  to  the  juice  of  the  grape.  The  Emperor,  never- 
theless, accepted  of  this  coarse  tribute.' 

82 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'Insert,'  said  the  Emperor,  who  had  been  hitherto 
either  plunged  in  deep  contemplation  or  in  an  incipient 
slumber  —  'insert,  I  say,  these  very  words:  "And  with 
the  heat  of  the  morning,  and  anxiety  of  so  rapid  a  march, 
with  a  numerous  enemy  in  his  rear,  the  Emperor  was  so 
thirsty  as  never  in  his  Hfe  to  think  beverage  more 
delicious.'" 

In  obedience  to  her  imperial  father's  orders,  the  Prin- 
cess resigned  the  manuscript  to  the  beautiful  slave  by 
whom  it  was  written,  repeating  to  the  fair  scribe  the  com- 
manded addition,  requiring  her  to  note  it  as  made  by 
the  express  sacred  command  of  the  Emperor,  and  then 
proceeded  thus:  'More  I  had  said  here  respecting  the 
favourite  liquor  of  your  Imperial  Highness's  faithful 
Varangians;  but  your  Highness  having  once  graced  it 
with  a  word  of  commendation,  this  ail,  as  they  call  it, 
doubtless  because  removing  all  disorders,  which  they 
term  "ailments,"  becomes  a  theme  too  lofty  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  any  inferior  person.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  thus 
were  we  all  pleasantly  engaged,  the  ladies  and  slaves 
trying  to  find  some  amusement  for  the  imperial  ears;  the 
soldiers,  in  a  long  line  down  the  ravine,  seen  in  different 
postures,  some  straggling  to  the  watercourse,  some  keep- 
ing guard  over  the  arms  of  their  comrades,  in  which  duty 
they  relieved  each  other,  while  body  after  body  of  the 
remaining  troops,  under  command  of  the  Protospath' 
aire,  and  particularly  those  called  Immortals,^  joined 
the  main  army  as  they  came  up.  Those  soldiers  who  were 
already  exhausted  were  allowed  to  take  a  short  repose, 
after  which  they  were  sent  forward,  with  directions  to 
advance  steadily  on  the  road  to  Laodicea;  while  their 

*  See  Note  4. 
83 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

leader  was  instructed,  so  soon  as  he  should  open  a  free 
communication  with  that  city,  to  send  thither  a  com- 
mand for  reinforcements  and  refreshments,  not  forget- 
ting fitting  provision  of  the  sacred  wine  for  the  imperial 
mouth.  Accordingly,  the  Roman  bands  of  Immortals 
and  others  had  resumed  their  march,  and  held  some 
way  on  their  journey,  it  being  the  imperial  pleasure  that 
the  Varangians,  lately  the  vanguard,  should  now  form 
the  rear  of  the  whole  army,  so  as  to  bring  off  in  safety 
the  Syrian  light  troops,  by  whom  the  hilly  pass  was  still 
occupied,  when  we  heard  upon  the  other  side  of  this 
defile,  which  we  had  traversed  with  so  much  safety,  the 
awful  sound  of  the  lelies,  as  the  Arabs  name  their  shout 
of  onset,  though  in  what  language  it  is  expressed  it  would 
be  hard  to  say.  Perchance  some  in  this  audience  may 
enlighten  my  ignorance? ' 

*  May  I  speak  and  live? '  said  the  Acoulouthos  Achilles, 
proud  of  his  literary  knowledge,  *  the  words  are.  Alia  ilia 
Alia;  Mohammed  resoul  Alia}  These,  or  something  like 
them,  contain  the  Arabs'  profession  of  faith,  which  they 
always  call  out  when  they  join  battle;  I  have  heard 
them  many  times.' 

'And  so  have  I,'  said  the  Emperor;  *  and  as  thou  didst, 
I  warrant  me,  I  have  sometimes  wished  myself  anywhere 
else  than  within  hearing.' 

All  the  circle  were  alive  to  hear  the  answer  of  Achilles 
Tatius.  He  was  too  good  a  courtier,  however,  to  make 
any  imprudent  reply.  'It  was  my  duty,'  he  repHed,  '  to 
desire  to  be  as  near  your  Imperial  Highness  as  your 
faithful  Follower  ought,  wherever  you  might  wish  your- 
self for  the  time.' 

1  That  is,  'God  is  God  —  Mahomet  is  the  prophet  of  God.' 
84 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Agelastes  and  Zosimus  exchanged  looks;  and  the 
Princess  Anna  Comnena  proceeded  in  her  recitation. 

'  The  cause  of  these  ominous  sounds,  which  came  in  wild 
confusion  up  the  rocky  pass,  was  soon  explained  to  us 
by  a  dozen  cavaliers,  to  whom  the  task  of  bringing 
intelligence  had  been  assigned. 

'These  informed  us  that  the  barbarians,  whose  host 
had  been  dispersed  around  the  position  in  which  we  had 
encamped  the  preceding  day,  had  not  been  enabled  to 
get  their  forces  together  until  our  light  troops  were 
evacuating  the  post  they  had  occupied  for  securing  the 
retreat  of  our  army.  They  were  then  drawing  off  from 
the  tops  of  the  hills  into  the  pass  itself,  when,  in  despite 
of  the  rocky  ground,  they  were  charged  furiously  by 
Jezdegerd,  at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of  his  followers, 
which,  after  repeated  exertions,  he  had  at  length  brought 
to  operate  on  the  rear  of  the  Syrians.  Notwithstanding 
that  the  pass  was  unfavourable  for  cavalry,  the  personal 
exertions  of  the  infidel  chief  made  his  followers  advance 
with  a  degree  of  resolution  unknown  to  the  Syrians  of  the 
Roman  army,  who,  finding  themselves  at  a  distance 
from  their  companions,  formed  the  injurious  idea  that 
they  were  left  there  to  be  sacrificed,  and  thought  of 
flight  in  various  directions  rather  than  of  a  combined 
and  resolute  resistance.  The  state  of  affairs,  therefore, 
at  the  further  end  of  the  pass,  was  less  favourable  than 
we  could  wish,  and  those  whose  curiosity  desired  to  see 
something  which  might  be  termed  the  rout  of  the  rear  of 
an  army  beheld  the  Syrians  pursued  from  the  hill-tops, 
overwhelmed,  and  individually  cut  down  and  made 
prisoners  by  the  bands  of  caitiff  Mussulmen. 

'  His  Imperial  Highness  looked  upon  the  scene  of  battle 

85 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

for  a  few  minutes,  and,  much  commoved  at  what  he 
saw,  was  somewhat  hasty  in  his  directions  to  the  Varan- 
gians to  resume  their  arms,  and  precipitate  their  march 
towards  Laodicea;  whereupon  one  of  those  Northern  sol- 
diers said  boldly,  though  in  opposition  to  the  imperial 
command,  "  If  we  attempt  to  go  hastily  down  this  hill, 
our  rear-guard  will  be  confused,  not  only  by  our  own 
hurry,  but  by  these  runaway  scoundrels  of  Syrians,  who 
in  their  headlong  flight  will  not  fail  to  mix  themselves 
among  our  ranks.  Let  two  hundred  Varangians,  who 
will  Uve  and  die  for  the  honour  of  England,  abide  in  the 
very  throat  of  this  pass  with  me,  while  the  rest  escort 
the  Emperor  to  this  Laodicea,  or  whatever  it  is  called. 
We  may  perish  in  our  defence,  but  we  shall  die  in  our 
duty;  and  I  have  little  doubt  but  we  shall  furnish  such  a 
meal  as  will  stay  the  stomach  of  these  yelping  hounds 
from  seeking  any  further  banquet  this  day." 

'  My  imperial  father  at  once  discovered  the  importance 
of  this  advice,  though  it  made  him  well-nigh  weep  to  see 
with  what  unshrinking  fidelity  these  poor  barbarians 
pressed  to  fill  up  the  number  of  those  who  were  to  under- 
take this  desperate  duty,  with  what  kindness  they  took 
leave  of  their  comrades,  and  with  what  jovial  shouts  they 
followed  their  sovereign  with  their  eyes  as  he  proceeded 
on  his  march  down  the  hill,  leaving  them  behind  to  resist 
and  perish.  The  imperial  eyes  were  filled  with  tears ;  and  I 
am  not  ashamed  to  confess  that,  amid  the  terror  of  the 
moment,  the  Empress,  and  I  myself,  forgot  our  rank  in 
paying  a  similar  tribute  to  these  bold  and  self-devoted 
men. 

'We  left  their  leader  carefully  arraying  his  handful  of 
comrades  in  defence  of  the  pass,  where  the  middle  path 

86 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

was  occupied  by  their  centre,  while  their  wings  on  either 
side  were  so  disposed  as  to  act  upon  the  flanks  of  the 
enemy,  should  he  rashly  press  upon  such  as  appeared 
opposed  to  him  in  the  road.  We  had  not  proceeded  half- 
way towards  the  plain  when  a  dreadful  shout  arose,  in 
which  the  yells  of  the  Arabs  were  mingled  with  the  deep 
and  more  regular  shout  which  these  strangers  usually 
repeat  thrice,  as  well  when  bidding  hail  to  their  com- 
manders and  princes  as  when  in  the  act  of  engaging  in 
battle.  Many  a  look  was  turned  back  by  their  comrades, 
and  many  a  form  was  seen  in  the  ranks  which  might  have 
claimed  the  chisel  of  a  sculptor,  while  the  soldier  hesi- 
tated whether  to  follow  the  line  of  his  duty,  which  called 
him  to  march  forward  with  his  Emperor,  or  the  impulse 
of  courage,  which  prompted  him  to  rush  back  to  join  his 
companions.  Discipline,  however,  prevailed,  and  the 
main  body  marched  on. 

'An  hour  had  elapsed,  during  which  we  heard,  from 
time  to  time,  the  noise  of  battle,  when  a  mounted  Var- 
angian presented  himself  at  the  side  of  the  Emperor's 
litter.  The  horse  was  covered  with  foam,  and  had  obvi- 
ously, from  his  trappings,  the  fineness  of  his  limbs,  and 
the  smallness  of  his  joints,  been  the  charger  of  some  chief 
of  the  desert,  which  had  fallen  by  the  chance  of  battle 
into  the  possession  of  the  Northern  warrior.  The  broad 
axe  which  the  Varangian  bore  was  also  stained  with 
blood,  and  the  paleness  of  death  itself  was  upon  his 
countenance.  These  marks  of  recent  battle  were  held 
sufficient  to  excuse  the  irregularity  of  his  salutation, 
while  he  exclaimed  —  "Noble  prince,  the  Arabs  are 
defeated,  and  you  may  pursue  your  march  at  more 
leisure." 

87 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'"Where  is  Jezdegerd? "  said  the  Emperor,  who  had 
many  reasons  for  dreading  this  celebrated  chief. 

'"Jezdegerd,"  continued  the  Varangian,  ''is  where 
brave  men  are  who  fall  in  their  duty." 

'"And  that  is — "  said  the  Emperor,  impatient  to 
know  distinctly  the  fate  of  so  formidable  an  adversary. 

'"Where  I  am  now  going,"  answered  the  faithful  sol- 
dier, who  dropped  from  his  horse  as  he  spoke,  and  expired 
at  the  feet  of  the  htter-bearers. 

'The  Emperor  called  to  his  attendants  to  see  that  the 
body  of  this  faithful  retainer,  to  whom  he  destined  an 
honourable  sepulchre,  was  not  left  to  the  jackal  or  vul- 
ture ;  and  some  of  his  brethren,  the  Anglo-Saxons,  among 
whom  he  was  a  man  of  no  mean  repute,  raised  the  body 
on  their  shoulders,  and  resumed  their  march  with  this 
additional  encumbrance,  prepared  to  fight  for  their 
precious  burden,  like  the  vaHant  Menelaus  for  the  body 
of  Patroclus.' 

The  Princess  Anna  Comnena  here  naturally  paused; 
for,  having  attained  what  she  probably  considered  as  the 
rounding  of  a  period,  she  was  willing  to  gather  an  idea 
of  the  feehngs  of  her  audience.  Indeed,  but  that  she  had 
been  intent  upon  her  own  manuscript,  the  emotions  of 
the  foreign  soldier  must  have  more  early  attracted  her 
attention.  In  the  beginning  of  her  recitation,  he  had 
retained  the  same  attitude  which  he  had  at  first  assumed, 
stijEf  and  rigid  as  a  sentinel  upon  duty,  and  apparently 
remembering  nothing,  save  that  he  was  performing  that 
duty  in  presence  of  the  imperial  court.  As  the  narrative 
advanced,  however,  he  appeared  to  take  more  interest 
in  what  was  read.  The  anxious  fears  expressed  by  the 
various  leaders  in  the  midnight  council  he  listened  to 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

with  a  smile  of  suppressed  contempt,  and  he  almost 
laughed  at  the  praises  bestowed  upon  the  leader  of  his 
own  corps,  Achilles  Tatius.  Nor  did  even  the  name  of 
the  Emperor,  though  listened  to  respectfully,  gain  that 
applause  for  which  his  daughter  fought  so  hard,  and 
used  so  much  exaggeration. 

Hitherto  the  Varangian's  countenance  indicated  very 
slightly  any  internal  emotions ;  but  they  appeared  to  take 
a  deeper  hold  on  his  mind  as  she  came  to  the  description 
of  the  halt  after  the  main  army  had  cleared  the  pass,  the 
unexpected  advance  of  the  Arabs,  the  retreat  of  the 
column  which  escorted  the  Emperor,  and  the  account  of 
the  distant  engagement.  He  lost,  on  hearing  the  narra- 
tion of  these  events,  the  rigid  and  constrained  look  of  a 
soldier,  who  listened  to  the  history  of  his  Emperor  with 
the  same  feelings  with  which  he  would  have  mounted 
guard  at  his  palace.  His  colour  began  to  come  and  go,  his 
eyes  to  fill  and  to  sparkle,  his  limbs  to  become  more  agi- 
tated than  their  owner  seemed  to  assent  to,  and  his  whole 
appearance  was  changed  into  that  of  a  listener  highly 
interested  by  the  recitation  which  he  hears,  and  insen- 
sible, or  forgetful,  of  whatever  else  is  passing  before  him, 
as  well  as  of  the  quality  of  those  who  are  present. 

As  the  historian  proceeded,  Hereward  became  less 
able  to  conceal  his  agitation;  and  at  the  moment  the 
Princess  looked  round,  his  feelings  became  so  acute  that, 
forgetting  where  he  was,  he  dropped  his  ponderous  axe 
upon  the  floor,  and,  clasping  his  hands  together,  ex- 
claimed, *  My  unfortunate  brother ! ' 

All  were  startled  by  the  clang  of  the  falling  weapon, 
and  several  persons  at  once  attempted  to  interfere,  as 
called  upon   to  explain   a   circumstance   so  unusual. 

89 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Achilles  Tatlus  made  some  small  progress  in  a  speech 
designed  to  apologise  for  the  rough  mode  of  venting 
his  sorrows  to  which  Hereward  had  given  way,  by  assur- 
ing the  eminent  persons  present  that  the  poor  unculti- 
vated barbarian  was  actually  younger  brother  to  him 
who  had  commanded  and  fallen  at  the  memorable  defile. 
The  Princess  said  nothing,  but  was  evidently  struck  and 
affected,  and  not  ill-pleased,  perhaps,  at  having  given 
rise  to  feelings  of  interest  so  flattering  to  her  as  an 
authoress.  The  others,  each  in  their  character,  uttered 
incoherent  words  of  what  was  meant  to  be  consolation; 
for  distress  which  flows  from  a  natural  cause  generally 
attracts  sympathy  even  from  the  most  artificial  charac- 
ters. The  voice  of  Alexius  silenced  all  these  imperfect 
speakers.  *Hah,  my  brave  soldier,  Edward!'  said  the 
Emperor,  *I  must  have  been  blind  that  I  did  not  sooner 
recognise  thee,  as  I  think  there  is  a  memorandum  entered 
respecting  five  hundred  pieces  of  gold  due  from  us  to 
Edward  the  Varangian;  we  have  it  in  our  secret  scroll 
of  such  liberahties  for  which  we  stand  indebted  to  our 
servitors,  nor  shall  the  payment  be  longer  deferred.'  1 
$k  'Not  to  me,  if  it  may  please  you,  my  liege,'  said  the 
Anglo-Dane,  hastily  composing  his  countenance  into  its 
rough  gravity  of  Uneament, '  lest  it  should  be  to  one  who 
can  claim  no  interest  in  your  imperial  munificence.  My 
name  is  Hereward ;  that  of  Edward  is  borne  by  three  of 
my  companions,  all  of  them  as  likely  as  I  to  have  deserved 
your  Highness's  reward  for  the  faithful  performance  of 
their  duty.' 

Many  a  sign  was  made  by  Tatius  in  order  to  guard  his 
soldier  against  the  folly  of  declining  the  liberaUty  of  the 
Emperor. 

90 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Agelastes  spoke  more  plainly.  'Young  man/  he  said, 
*  rejoice  in  an  honour  so  unexpected,  and  answer  hence- 
forth to  no  other  name  save  that  of  Edward,  by  which  it 
hath  pleased  the  hght  of  the  world,  as  it  poured  a  ray 
upon  thee,  to  distinguish  thee  from  other  barbarians. 
What  is  to  thee  the  font-stone,  or  the  priest  officiating 
thereat,  shouldst  thou  have  derived  from  either  any  epi- 
thet different  from  that  by  which  it  hath  now  pleased 
the  Emperor  to  distinguish  thee  from  the  common  mass 
of  humanity,  and  by  which  proud  distinction  thou  hast 
now  a  right  to  be  known  ever  afterwards? ' 

'Here ward  was  the  name  of  my  father,'  said  the  sol- 
dier, who  had  now  altogether  recovered  his  composure. 
'I  cannot  abandon  it  while  I  honour  his  memory  in 
death.  Edward  is  the  title  of  my  comrade;  I  must  not 
run  the  risk  of  usurping  his  interest.' 

'Peace  all!'  interrupted  the  Emperor.  'If  we  have 
made  a  mistake,  we  are  rich  enough  to  right  it;  nor  shall 
Hereward  be  the  poorer,  if  an  Edward  shall  be  found  to 
merit  this  gratuity.' 

'Your  Highness  may  trust  that  to  your  affectionate 
consort,'  answered  the  Empress  Irene. 

'His  Most  Sacred  Highness,'  said  the  Princess  Anna 
Comnena,  '  is  so  avariciously  desirous  to  do  whatever  is 
good  and  gracious,  that  he  leaves  no  room  even  for  his 
nearest  connexions  to  display  generosity  or  munificence. 
Nevertheless,  I,  in  my  degree,  will  testify  my  gratitude 
to  this  brave  man;  for  where  his  exploits  are  mentioned 
in  this  history  I  will  cause  to  be  recorded,  "This  feat 
was  done  by  Hereward  the  Anglo-Dane,  whom  it  hath 
pleased  his  Imperial  Majesty  to  call  Edward."  Keep 
this,  good  youth,'  she  continued,  bestowing  at  the  same 

91 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

time  a  ring  of  price, '  in  token  that  we  will  not  forget  our 
engagement.' 

Hereward  accepted  the  token  with  a  profound  obei- 
sance, and  a  discomposure  which  his  station  rendered  not 
unbecoming.  It  was  obvious  to  most  persons  present 
that  the  gratitude  of  the  beautiful  princess  was  expressed 
in  a  manner  more  acceptable  to  the  youthful  Kfe-guards- 
man  than  that  of  Alexius  Comnenus.  He  took  the  ring 
with  great  demonstration  of  thankfulness.  'Precious 
relic!'  he  said,  as  he  saluted  this  pledge  of  esteem  by 
pressing  it  to  his  lips;  'we  may  not  remain  long  together, 
but  be  assured,'  bending  reverently  to  the  Princess,  'that 
death  alone  shall  part  us.' 

'Proceed,  our  princely  daughter,'  said  the  Empress 
Irene;  'you  have  done  enough  to  show  that  valour  is 
precious  to  her  who  can  confer  fame,  whether  it  be  found 
in  a  Roman  or  a  barbarian.' 

The  Princess  resumed  her  narrative  with  some  slight 
appearance  of  embarrassment. 

'  Our  movement  upon  Laodicea  was  now  resumed,  and 
continued  with  good  hopes  on  the  part  of  those  engaged 
in  the  march.  Yet  instinctively  we  could  not  help  cast- 
ing our  eyes  to  the  rear,  which  had  been  so  long  the  direc- 
tion in  which  we  feared  attack.  At  length,  to  our  sur- 
prise, a  thick  cloud  of  dust  was  visible  on  the  descent  of 
the  hill,  half-way  betwixt  us  and  the  place  at  which  we 
had  halted.  Some  of  the  troops  who  composed  our  re- 
treating body,  particularly  those  in  the  rear,  began  to 
exclaim,  "The  Arabs  —  the  Arabs!"  and  their  march 
assumed  a  more  precipitate  character  when  they  believed 
themselves  pursued  by  the  enemy.  But  the  Varangian 
guards  affirmed  with  one  voice  that  the  dust  was  raised 

92 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

by  the  remains  of  their  own  comrades,  who,  left  in  the 
defence  of  the  pass,  had  marched  off  after  having  so 
valiantly  maintained  the  station  entrusted  to  them. 
They  fortified  their  opinion  by  professional  remarks 
that  the  cloud  of  dust  was  more  concentrated  than  if 
raised  by  the  Arab  horse,  and  they  even  pretended  to 
assert,  from  their  knowledge  of  such  cases,  that  the 
number  of  their  comrades  had  been  much  diminished  in 
the  action.  Some  Syrian  horsemen,  despatched  to  recon- 
noitre the  approaching  body,  brought  intelligence  cor- 
responding with  the  opinion  of  the  Varangians  in  every 
particular.  The  portion  of  the  body-guard  had  beaten 
back  the  Arabs,  and  their  gallant  leader  had  slain  their 
chief  Jezdegerd,  in  which  service  he  was  mortally 
wounded,  as  this  history  hath  already  mentioned.  The 
survivors  of  the  detachment,  diminished  by  one  half, 
were  now  on  their  march  to  join  the  Emperor,  as  fast  as 
the  encumbrance  of  bearing  their  wounded  to  a  place  of 
safety  would  permit. 

'The  Emperor  Alexius,  with  one  of  those  brilliant  and 
benevolent  ideas  which  mark  his  paternal  character 
towards  his  soldiers,  ordered  all  the  Utters,  even  that  for 
his  own  most  sacred  use,  to  be  instantly  sent  back  to 
relieve  the  bold  Varangians  of  the  task  of  bearing  the 
woimded.  The  shouts  of  the  Varangians'  gratitude  may 
be  more  easily  conceived  than  described,  when  they  be- 
held the  Emperor  himself  descend  from  his  litter,  like  an 
ordinary  cavalier,  and  assume  his  war-horse,  at  the  same 
time  that  the  Most  Sacred  Empress,  as  well  as  the 
authoress  of  this  history,  with  other  princesses  born  in 
the  purple,  mounted  upon  mules,  in  order  to  proceed 
upon  the  march,  while  their  litters  were  unhesitatingly 

93 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

assigned  for  the  accommodation  of  the  wounded  men. 
This  was  indeed  a  mark  as  well  of  military  sagacity  as  of 
humanity;  for  the  relief  afforded  to  the  bearers  of  the 
wounded  enabled  the  survivors  of  those  who  had  de- 
fended the  defile  at  the  fountain  to  join  us  sooner  than 
would  otherwise  have  been  possible. 

'It  was  an  awful  thing  to  see  those  men  who  had  left 
us  in  the  full  splendour  which  military  equipment  gives 
to  youth  and  strength  again  appearing  in  diminished 
numbers  —  their  armour  shattered,  their  shields  full  of 
arrows,  their  offensive  weapons  marked  with  blood,  and 
they  themselves  exhibiting  all  the  signs  of  desperate  and 
recent  battle.  Nor  was  it  less  interesting  to  remark  the 
meeting  of  the  soldiers  who  had  been  engaged  with  the 
comrades  whom  they  had  rejoined.  The  Emperor,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  trusty  Acoulouthos,  permitted  them  a 
few  moments  to  leave  their  ranks,  and  learn  from  each 
other  the  fate  of  the  battle. 

'As  the  two  bands  mingled,  it  seemed  a  meeting  where 
grief  and  joy  had  a  contest  together.  The  most  rugged 
of  these  barbarians  —  and  I  who  saw  it  can  bear  witness 
to  the  fact  —  as  he  welcomed  with  a  grasp  of  his  strong 
hand  some  comrade  whom  he  had  given  up  for  lost,  had 
his  large  blue  eyes  filled  with  tears  at  hearing  of  the  loss 
of  some  one  whom  he  had  hoped  might  have  survived. 
Other  veterans  reviewed  the  standards  which  had  been 
in  the  conflict,  satisfied  themselves  that  they  had  all 
been  brought  back  in  honour  and  safety,  and  counted  the 
fresh  arrow-shots  with  which  they  had  been  pierced,  in 
addition  to  similar  marks  of  former  battles.  All  were 
loud  in  the  praises  of  the  brave  young  leader  they  had 
lost,  nor  were  the  acclamations  less  general  in  laud  of 

94 


COUNT   ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

him  who  had  succeeded  to  the  command,  who  brought 
up  the  party  of  his  deceased  brother,  and  whom,'  said 
the  Princess,  in  a  few  words  which  seemed  apparently- 
interpolated  for  the  occasion,  '  I  now  assure  of  the  high 
honour  and  estimation  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  author 
of  this  history  —  that  is,  I  would  say,  by  every  member 
of  the  imperial  family  —  for  his  gallant  services  in  such 
an  important  crisis.' 

Having  hurried  over  her  tribute  to  her  friend  the 
Varangian,  in  which  emotions  mingled  that  are  not  will- 
ingly expressed  before  so  many  hearers,  Anna  Com- 
nena  proceeded  with  composure  in  the  part  of  her  history 
which  was  less  personal. 

*We  had  not  much  time  to  make  more  observations 
on  what  passed  among  those  brave  soldiers;  for,  a  few 
minutes  having  been  allowed  to  their  feelings,  the  trum- 
pet sounded  the  advance  towards  Laodicea,  and  we  soon 
beheld  the  town,  now  about  four  miles  from  us,  in  fields 
which  were  chiefly  covered  with  trees.  Apparently  the 
garrison  had  already  some  notice  of  our  approach,  for 
carts  and  wains  were  seen  advancing  from  the  gates 
with  refreshments,  which  the  heat  of  the  day,  the 
length  of  the  march,  and  columns  of  dust,  as  well  as  the 
want  of  water,  had  rendered  of  the  last  necessity  to  us. 
The  soldiers  joyfully  mended  their  pace  in  order  to  meet 
the  sooner  with  the  supplies  of  which  they  stood  so 
much  in  need.  But  as  the  cup  doth  not  carry  in  all 
cases  the  Hquid  treasure  to  the  hps  for  which  it  was 
intended,  however  much  it  may  be  longed  for,  what  was 
our  mortification  to  behold  a  cloud  of  Arabs  issue  at  full 
gallop  from  the  wooded  plain  betwixt  the  Roman  army 
and  the  city,  and  throw  themselves  upon  the  waggons, 

95 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

slaying  the  drivers,  and  making  havoc  and  spoil  of  the 
contents!  This,  we  afterwards  learned,  was  a  body  of 
the  enemy,  headed  by  Varanes,  equal  in  military  fame 
among  those  infidels  to  Jezdegerd,  his  slain  brother.* 
When  this  chieftain  saw  that  it  was  probable  that  the 
Varangians  would  succeed  in  their  desperate  defence  of 
the  pass,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of 
cavalry;  and,  as  these  infidels  are  mounted  on  horses 
unmatched  either  in  speed  or  wind,  performed  a  long 
circuit,  traversed  the  stony  ridge  of  hills  at  a  more  north- 
erly defile,  and  placed  himself  in  ambuscade  in  the 
wooded  plain  I  have  mentioned,  with  the  hope  of  making 
an  unexpected  assault  upon  the  Emperor  and  his  army, 
at  the  very  time  when  they  might  be  supposed  to  reckon 
upon  an  undisputed  retreat.  This  surprise  would  cer- 
tainly have  taken  place,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  say  what 
might  have  been  the  consequence,  had  not  the  unex- 
pected appearance  of  the  train  of  waggons  awakened  the 
unbridled  rapacity  of  the  Arabs,  in  spite  of  their  com- 
mander's prudence  and  attempts  to  restrain  them.  In 
this  manner  the  proposed  ambuscade  was  discovered. 

'But  Varanes,  willing  still  to  gain  some  advantage 
from  the  rapidity  of  his  movements,  assembled  as  many 
of  his  horsemen  as  could  be  collected  from  the  spoil,  and 
pushed  forward  towards  the  Romans,  who  had  stopt 
short  on  their  march  at  so  unlooked-for  an  apparition. 
There  was  an  uncertainty  and  wavering  in  our  first 
ranks  which  made  their  hesitation  known  even  to  so 
poor  a  judge  of  military  demeanour  as  myself.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Varangians  joined  in  a  unanimous  cry  of 
"Bills"  ^  —  that  is,  in  their  language,  battle-axes  — 

*  Villehardouin  says,  'Les  Anglois  et  Danois  mult  bien  combattoient 
avec  leurs  haches.' 

96 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

"to  the  front!"  and  the  Emperor's  most  gracious  will 
acceding  to  their  valorous  desire,  they  pressed  forward 
from  the  rear  to  the  head  of  the  column.  I  can  hardly 
say  how  this  manoeuvre  was  executed,  but  it  was  doubt- 
less by  the  wise  directions  of  my  most  serene  father, 
distinguished  for  his  presence  of  mind  upon  such  difi&cult 
occasions.  It  was,  no  doubt,  much  facilitated  by  the 
good- will  of  the  troops  themselves;  the  Roman  bands, 
called  the  Immortals,  showing,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  no 
less  desire  to  fall  into  the  rear  than  did  the  Varangians 
to  occupy  the  places  which  the  Immortals  left  vacant  in 
front.  The  manoeuvre  was  so  happily  executed  that, 
before  Varanes  and  his  Arabs  had  arrived  at  the  van  of 
our  troops,  they  found  it  occupied  by  the  inflexible  guard 
of  Northern  soldiers.  I  might  have  seen  with  my  own 
eyes,  and  called  upon  them  as  sure  evidences  of  that 
which  chanced  upon  the  occasion.  But,  to  confess  the 
truth,  my  eyes  were  little  used  to  look  upon  such  sights; 
for  of  Varanes's  charge  I  only  beheld,  as  it  were,  a  thick 
cloud  of  dust  rapidly  driven  forward,  through  which 
were  seen  the  glittering  points  of  lances,  and  the  waving 
plumes  of  turbaned  cavaliers  imperfectly  visible.  The 
tecbir  was  so  loudly  uttered,  that  I  was  scarcely  aware 
that  kettledrums  and  brazen  cymbals  were  sounding  in 
concert  with  it.  But  this  wild  and  outrageous  storm  was 
met  as  effectually  as  if  encountered  by  a  rock. 

'The  Varangians,  unshaken  by  the  furious  charge  of 
the  Arabs,  received  horse  and  rider  with  a  shower  of 
blows  from  their  massive  battle-axes,  which  the  bravest 
of  the  enemy  could  not  face,  nor  the  strongest  endure. 
The  guards  strengthened  their  ranks  also,  by  the  hind- 
most pressing  so  close  upon  those  that  went  before,  after 
43  97 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  manner  of  the  ancient  Macedonians,  that  the  fine- 
limbed,  though  slight,  steeds  of  these  Idmneans  could 
not  make  the  least  inroad  upon  the  Northern  phalanx. 
The  bravest  men,  the  most  gallant  horses,  fell  in  the 
first  rank.  The  weighty,  though  short,  horse  javelins, 
flung  from  the  rear  ranks  of  the  brave  Varangians  with 
good  aim  and  sturdy  arm,  completed  the  confusion  of 
the  assailants,  who  turned  their  back  in  affright  and  fled 
from  the  field  in  total  confusion. 

'  The  enemy  thus  repulsed,  we  proceeded  on  our  march, 
and  only  halted  when  we  recovered  our  half-plundered 
waggons.  Here,  also,  some  invidious  remarks  were  made 
by  certain  officers  of  the  interior  of  the  household,  who 
had  been  on  duty  over  the  stores,  and,  having  fled  from 
their  posts  on  the  assault  of  the  infidels,  had  only  re- 
turned upon  their  being  repulsed.  These  men,  quick  in 
malice,  though  slow  in  perilous  service,  reported  that, 
on  this  occasion,  the  Varangians  so  far  forgot  their  duty 
as  to  consume  a  part  of  the  sacred  wine  reserved  for  the 
imperial  lips  alone.  It  would  be  criminal  to  deny  that 
this  was  a  great  and  culpable  oversight;  nevertheless,  our 
imperial  hero  passed  it  over  as  a  pardonable  offence, 
remarking,  in  a  jesting  manner,  that  since  he  had  drunk 
the  ail,  as  they  termed  it,  of  his  trusty  guard,  the  Varan- 
gians had  acquired  a  right  to  quench  the  thirst  and  to 
reHeve  the  fatigue  which  they  had  undergone  that  day 
in  his  defence,  though  they  used  for  these  purposes  the 
sacred  contents  of  the  imperial  cellar. 

*  In  the  meantime,  the  cavalry  of  the  army  were  des- 
patched in  pursuit  of  the  fugitive  Arabs;  and  having  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  them  behind  the  chain  of  hills  which 
had  so  recently  divided  them  from  the  Romans,  the 

98 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

imperial  arms  might  justly  be  considered  as  having  ob- 
tained a  complete  and  glorious  victory. 

'We  are  now  to  mention  the  rejoicings  of  the  citizens 
of  Laodicea,  who,  having  witnessed  from  their  rampartSj 
with  alternate  fear  and  hope,  the  fluctuations  of  the 
battle,  now  descended  to  congratulate  the  imperial 
conqueror.* 

Here  the  fair  narrator  was  interrupted.  The  principal 
entrance  of  the  apartment  flew  open,  noiselessly  indeed, 
but  with  both  folding  leaves  at  once,  not  as  if  to  accom- 
modate the  entrance  of  an  ordinary  courtier,  studying 
to  create  as  little  disturbance  as  possible,  but  as  if  there 
was  entering  a  person  who  ranked  so  high  as  to  make  it 
indifferent  how  much  attention  was  drawn  to  his  mo- 
tions. It  could  only  be  one  born  in  the  purple,  or  nearly 
allied  to  it,  to  whom  such  freedom  was  lawful;  and  most 
of  the  guests,  knowing  who  were  likely  to  appear  in  that 
temple  of  the  Muses,  anticipated,  from  the  degree  of 
bustle,  the  arrival  of  Nicephorus  Briennius,  the  son-in- 
law  of  Alexius  Comnenus,  the  husband  to  the  fair  his- 
torian, and  in  the  rank  of  Csesar,  which,  however,  did 
not  at  that  period  imply,  as  in  early  ages,  the  dignity  of 
second  person  in  the  empire.  The  policy  of  Alexius  had 
interposed  more  than  one  person  of  condition  between 
the  Cassar  and  his  original  rights  and  rank,  which  had 
once  been  second  to  those  only  of  the  Emperor  himself. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  storm  increases;  't  is  no  sunny  shower 
Foster'd  in  the  moist  breast  of  March  or  April, 
Or  such  as  parched  summer  cools  his  lip  with. 
Heaven's  windows  are  flung  wide;  the  inmost  deeps 
Call  in  hoarse  greeting  one  upon  another; 
On  comes  the  flood  in  all  its  foaming  horrors, 
And  where 's  the  dike  shall  stop  it? 

The  Deluge,  a  Poem. 

The  distinguished  individual  who  entered  was  a  noble 
Grecian,  of  stately  presence,  whose  habit  was  adorned 
with  every  mark  of  dignity,  saving  those  which  Alexius 
had  declared  sacred  to  the  Emperor's  own  person  and 
that  of  the  Sebastocrator,  whom  he  had  estabHshed  as 
next  in  rank  to  the  head  of  the  empire.  Nicephorus  Bri- 
ennius,  who  was  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  retained  all  the 
marks  of  that  manly  beauty  which  had  made  the  match 
acceptable  to  Anna  Comnena;  while  pohtical  considera- 
tions, and  the  desire  of  attaching  a  powerful  house  as 
friendly  adherents  of  the  throne,  recommended  the  union 
to  the  Emperor. 

We  have  already  hinted  that  the  royal  bride  had, 
though  in  no  great  degree,  the  very  doubtful  advantage 
of  years.  Of  her  hterary  talents  we  have  seen  tokens- 
Yet  it  was  not  believed  by  those  who  best  knew  that, 
with  the  aid  of  those  claims  to  respect,  Anna  Comnena 
was  successful  in  possessing  the  unlimited  attachment  of 
her  handsome  husband.  To  treat  her  with  apparent 
neglect  her  connexion  with  the  crown  rendered  impos- 
sible; while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  power  of  Nicepho- 
rus's  family  was  too  great  to  permit  his  being  dictated  to 

lOO 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

even  by  the  Emperor  himself.  He  was  possessed  of  tal- 
ents, as  it  was  believed,  calculated  both  for  war  and 
peace.  His  advice  was,  therefore,  listened  to,  and  his 
assistance  required,  so  that  he  claimed  complete  liberty 
with  respect  to  his  own  time,  which  he  sometimes  used 
with  less  regular  attendance  upon  the  temple  of  the 
Muses  than  the  goddess  of  the  place  thought  herself 
entitled  to,  or  than  the  Empress  Irene  was  disposed  to 
exact  on  the  part  of  her  daughter.  The  good-humoured 
Alexius  observed  a  sort  of  neutrality  in  this  matter,  and 
kept  it  as  much  as  possible  from  becoming  visible  to  the 
public,  conscious  that  it  required  the  whole  united 
strength  of  his  family  to  maintain  his  place  in  so  agi- 
tated an  empire. 

He  pressed  his  son-in-law's  hand,  as  Nicephorus,  pass- 
ing his  father-in-law's  seat,  bent  his  knee  in  token  of 
homage.  The  constrained  manner  of  the  Empress  indi- 
cated a  more  cold  reception  of  her  son-in-law,  while  the 
fair  muse  herself  scarcely  deigned  to  signify  her  atten- 
tion to  his  arrival,  when  her  handsome  mate  assumed  the 
vacant  seat  by  her  side,  which  we  have  already  made 
mention  of. 

There  was  an  awkward  pause,  during  which  the  im- 
perial son-in-law,  coldly  received  when  he  expected  to  be 
welcomed,  attempted  to  enter  into  some  light  conversa- 
tion with  the  fair  slave  Astarte,  who  knelt  behind  her 
mistress.  This  was  interrupted  by  the  Princess  com- 
manding her  attendant  to  inclose  the  manuscript  within 
its  appropriate  casket,  and  convey  it  with  her  own  hands 
to  the  cabinet  of  Apollo,  the  usual  scene  of  the  Princess's 
studies,  as  the  temple  of  the  Muses  was  that  commonly 
dedicated  to  her  recitations. 

lOI 

^mk  %mm  state  cohek  :.; 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  Emperor  himself  was  the  first  to  break  an  unpleas- 
ant silence.  'Fair  son-in-law/  he  said,  'though  it  now 
wears  something  late  in  the  night,  you  will  do  yourself 
wrong  if  you  permit  our  Anna  to  send  away  that  volume, 
with  which  this  company  have  been  so  delectably  enter- 
tained that  they  may  well  say  that  the  desert  hath  pro- 
duced roses,  and  the  barren  rocks  have  poured  forth 
milk  and  honey,  so  agreeable  is  the  narrative  of  a  toil- 
some and  dangerous  campaign  in  the  language  of  our 
daughter.' 

'The  Caesar,'  said  the  Empress,  'seems  to  have  little 
taste  for  such  dainties  as  this  family  can  produce.  He 
hath  of  late  repeatedly  absented  himself  from  this  tem- 
ple of  the  Muses,  and  found  doubtless  more  agreeable 
conversation  and  amusement  elsewhere.' 

'I  trust,  madam,'  said  Nicephorus,  'that  my  taste 
may  vindicate  me  from  the  charge  implied.  But  it  is 
natural  that  our  sacred  father  should  be  most  delighted 
with  the  milk  and  honey  which  is  produced  for  his  own 
special  use.' 

The  Princess  spoke  in  the  tone  of  a  handsome  woman 
offended  by  her  lover,  and  feeling  the  offence,  yet  not 
indisposed  to  a  reconciliation. 

'If,'  she  said,  'the  deeds  of  Nicephorus  Briennius  are 
less  frequently  celebrated  in  that  poor  roll  of  parchment 
than  those  of  my  illustrious  father,  he  must  do  me  the 
justice  to  remember  that  such  was  his  own  special  re- 
quest; either  proceeding  from  that  modesty  which  is 
justly  ascribed  to  him  as  serving  to  soften  and  adorn  his 
other  attributes,  or  because  he  with  justice  distrusts  his 
wife's  power  to  compose  their  eulogium.' 

'We  will  then  summon  back  Astarte,'  said  the  Em- 

I02 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

press,  'who  cannot  yet  have  carried  her  offering  to  the 
cabinet  of  Apollo.' 

'With  your  imperial  pleasure,'  said  Nicephorus,  *it 
might  incense  the  Pythian  god  were  a  deposit  to  be  re- 
called of  which  he  alone  can  fitly  estimate  the  value.  I 
came  hither  to  speak  with  the  Emperor  upon  pressing 
affairs  of  state,  and  not  to  hold  a  literary  conversation 
with  a  company  which  I  must  needs  say  is  something  of 
a  miscellaneous  description,  since  I  behold  an  ordinary 
life-guardsman  in  the  imperial  circle.' 

*By  the  rood,  son-in-law,'  said  Alexius,  'you  do  this 
gallant  man  wrong.  He  is  the  brother  of  that  brave 
Anglo-Dane  who  secured  the  victory  at  Laodicea  by  his 
vaUant  conduct  and  death ;  he  himself  is  that  Edmund  — 
or  Edward  —  or  Hereward  —  to  whom  we  are  ever 
bound  for  securing  the  success  of  that  victorious  day.  He 
was  called  into  our  presence,  son-in-law,  since  it  imports 
that  you  should  know  so  much,  to  refresh  the  memory  of 
my  follower,  Achilles  Tatius,  as  well  as  mine  own,  con- 
cerning some  transactions  of  the  day  of  which  we  had 
become  in  some  degree  obUvious.' 

'Truly,  imperial  sir,'  answered  Briennius,  'I  grieve 
that,  by  having  intruded  on  such  important  researches,  I 
may  have,  in  some  degree,  intercepted  a  portion  of  that 
light  which  is  to  illuminate  future  ages.  Methinks  that  in 
a  battlefield,  fought  under  your  imperial  guidance  and 
that  of  your  great  captains,  your  evidence  might  well 
supersede  the  testimony  of  such  a  man  as  this.  Let  me 
know,'  he  added,  turning  haughtily  to  the  Varangian, 
*  what  particular  thou  canst  add,  that  is  unnoticed  in  the 
Princess's  narrative? ' 

The  Varangian  replied  instantly, '  Only  that,  when  we 

103 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

made  a  halt  at  the  fountain,  the  music  that  was  there 
made  by  the  ladies  of  the  Emperor's  household,  and 
particularly  by  those  two  whom  I  now  behold,  was  the 
most  exquisite  that  ever  reached  my  ears.' 

'  Hah !  darest  thou  to  speak  so  audacious  an  opinion? ' 
exclaimed  Nicephorus. '  Is  it  for  such  as  thou  to  suppose 
for  a  moment  that  the  music  which  the  wife  and  daugh- 
ter of  the  Emperor  might  condescend  to  make  was  in- 
tended to  afford  either  matter  of  pleasure  or  of  criticism 
to  every  plebeian  barbarian  who  might  hear  them?  Be- 
gone from  this  place !  nor  dare,  on  any  pretext,  again  to 
appear  before  mine  eyes  —  under  allowance  always  of 
our  imperial  father's  pleasure.' 

The  Varangian  bent  his  looks  upon  Achilles  Tatius, 
as  the  person  from  whom  he  was  to  take  his  orders  to 
stay  or  withdraw.  But  the  Emperor  himself  took  up  the 
subject  with  considerable  dignity. 

*  Son,'  he  said,  'we  cannot  permit  this.  On  account  of 
some  love  quarrel,  as  it  would  seem,  betwixt  you  and 
our  daughter,  you  allow  yourself  strangely  to  forget  our 
imperial  rank,  and  to  order  from  our  presence  those  whom 
we  have  pleased  to  call  to  attend  us.  This  is  neither  right 
nor  seemly,  nor  is  it  our  pleasure  that  this  same  Here- 
ward  —  or  Edward  —  or  whatever  be  his  name  —  either 
leave  us  at  this  present  moment  or  do  at  any  time  here- 
after regulate  himself  by  any  commands  save  our  own, 
or  those  of  our  Follower,  Achilles  Tatius.  And  now, 
allowing  this  foolish  affair,  which  I  think  was  blown 
among  us  by  the  wind,  to  pass  as  it  came,  without  further 
notice,  we  crave  to  know  the  grave  matters  of  state  which 
brought  you  to  our  presence  at  so  late  an  hour.  You  look 
again  at  this  Varangian.    Withhold  not  your  words,  I 

104 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

pray  you,  on  account  of  his  presence;  for  he  stands  as 
high  in  our  trust,  and  we  are  convinced  with  as  good  rea- 
son, as  any  counsellor  who  has  been  sworn  our  domestic 
servant.' 

*To  hear  is  to  obey,'  returned  the  Emperor's  son-in- 
law,  who  saw  that  Alexius  was  somewhat  moved,  and 
knew  that  in  such  cases  it  was  neither  safe  nor  expedi- 
ent to  drive  him  to  extremity,  'What  I  have  to  say,' 
continued  he,  *  must  so  soon  be  public  news,  that  it  Uttle 
matters  who  hears  it;  and  yet  the  West,  so  fuU  of  strange 
changes,  never  sent  to  the  Eastern  half  of  the  globe  tid- 
ings so  alarming  as  those  I  now  come  to  tell  your  Im- 
perial Highness.  Europe,  to  borrow  an  expression  from 
this  lady,  who  honours  me  by  caUing  me  husband,  seems 
loosened  from  its  foundations  and  about  to  precipitate 
itself  upon  Asia  — ' 

*  So  I  did  express  myself,'  said  the  Princess  Anna  Com- 
nena, '  and,  as  I  trust,  not  altogether  unforcibly,  when  we 
first  heard  that  the  wild  impulse  of  those  restless  barba- 
rians of  Europe  had  driven  a  tempest  as  of  a  thousand 
nations  upon  our  western  frontier,  with  the  extravagant 
purpose,  as  they  pretended,  of  possessing  themselves  of 
Syria,  and  the  holy  places  there  marked  as  the  sepulchres 
of  prophets,  the  martyrdom  of  saints,  and  the  great 
events  detailed  in  the  blessed  Gospel.  But  that  storm,  by 
all  accounts,  hath  burst  and  passed  away,  and  we  well 
hoped  that  the  danger  had  gone  with  it.  Devoutly  shall 
we  sorrow  to  find  it  otherwise.' 

'And  otherwise  we  must  expect  to  find  it,'  said  her 
husband.  '  It  is  very  true,  as  reported  to  us,  that  a  huge 
body  of  men  of  low  rank,  and  little  understanding,  as- 
sumed arms  at  the  instigation  of  a  mad  hermit,  and  took 

105 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  road  from  Germany  to  Hungary,  expecting  miracles 
to  be  wrought  in  their  favour,  as  when  Israel  was  guided 
through  the  wilderness  by  a  pillar  of  flame  and  a  cloud. 
But  no  showers  of  marma  or  of  quails  relieved  their  ne- 
cessities, or  proclaimed  them  the  chosen  people  of  God. 
No  waters  gushed  from  the  rock  for  their  refreshment. 
They  were  enraged  at  their  sufferings,  and  endeavoured 
to  obtain  supplies  by  pillaging  the  country.  The  Hun- 
garians, and  other  nations  on  our  western  frontiers. 
Christians,  like  themselves,  did  not  hesitate  to  fall  upon 
this  disorderly  rabble;  and  immense  piles  of  bones  in 
wild  passes  and  unfrequented  deserts  attest  the  calami- 
tous defeats  which  extirpated  these  unholy  pilgrims.' 

*  All  this,'  said  the  Emperor,  *  we  knew  before ;  but  what 
new  evil  now  threatens,  since  we  have  already  escaped 
so  important  a  one? ' 

*  Knew  before ! '  said  the  Prince  Nicephonis.  *  We  knew 
nothing  of  our  real  danger  before,  save  that  a  wild  herd 
of  animals,  as  brutal  and  as  furious  as  wild  bulls,  threat- 
ened to  bend  their  way  to  a  pasture  for  which  they  had 
formed  a  fancy,  and  deluged  the  Grecian  empire  and  its 
vicinity  in  their  passage,  expecting  that  Palestine,  with 
its  streams  of  milk  and  honey,  once  more  awaited  them, 
as  God's  predestined  people.  But  so  wild  and  disorderly 
an  invasion  had  no  terrors  for  a  civilised  nation  like  the 
Romans.  The  brute  herd  was  terrified  by  our  Greek 
fire;  it  was  snared  and  shot  down  by  the  wild  nations 
who,  while  they  pretend  to  independence,  cover  our 
frontier  as  with  a  protecting  fortification.  The  vile 
multitude  has  been  consumed  even  by  the  very  quality 
of  the  provisions  thrown  in  their  way  —  those  wise  means 
of  resistance  which  were  at  once  suggested  by  the  pater- 

io6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

nal  care  of  the  Emperor  and  by  his  unfailing  policy.  Thus 
wisdom  has  played  its  part,  and  the  bark  over  which  the 
tempest  had  poured  its  thunder  has  escaped,  notwith- 
standing all  its  violence.  But  the  second  storm,  by  which 
the  former  is  so  closely  followed,  is  of  a  new  descent 
of  these  Western  nations,  more  formidable  than  any 
which  we  or  our  fathers  have  yet  seen.  This  consists  not 
of  the  ignorant  or  of  the  fanatical,  not  of  the  base,  the 
needy,  and  the  improvident.  Now,  all  that  wide  Europe 
possesses  of  what  is  wise  and  worthy,  brave  and  noble, 
are  united  by  the  most  religious  vows  in  the  same  pur- 
pose.' 

'And  what  is  that  purpose?  Speak  plainly,' said  Alex- 
ius. *  The  destruction  of  our  whole  Roman  empire,  and 
the  blotting  out  the  very  name  of  its  chief  from  among 
the  princes  of  the  earth,  among  which  it  has  long  been 
predominant,  can  alone  be  an  adequate  motive  for  a  con- 
federacy such  as  thy  speech  infers.' 

*No  such  design  is  avowed,'  said  Nicephorus;  'and  so 
many  princes,  wise  men,  and  statesmen  of  eminence 
aim,  it  is  pretended,  at  nothing  else  than  the  same  ex- 
travagant purpose  announced  by  the  brute  multitude 
who  first  appeared  in  these  regions.  Here,  most  gracious 
Emperor,  is  a  scroll,  in  which  you  will  find  marked  down 
a  list  of  the  various  armies  which,  by  different  routes, 
are  approaching  the  vicinity  of  the  empire.  Behold, 
Hugh  of  Vermandois,  called  from  his  dignity  Hugh  the 
Great,  has  set  sail  from  the  shores  of  Italy.  Twenty 
knights  have  already  announced  their  coming,  sheathed 
in  armour  of  steel,  inlaid  with  gold,  bearing  this  proud 
greeting:  "Let  the  Emperor  of  Greece  and  his  lieuten- 
ants  understand   that  Hugo  Earl   of  Vermandois  is 

107 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

approaching  his  territories.  He  is  brother  to  the  king  of 
kings  —  the  king  of  France/  namely  —  and  is  attended 
by  the  flower  of  the  French  nobility.  He  bears  the  blessed 
banner  of  St.  Peter,  entrusted  to  his  victorious  care  by 
the  holy  successor  of  the  apostle,  and  warns  thee  of  all 
this,  that  thou  mayst  provide  a  reception  suitable  to  his 
rank.'" 

'Here  are  sounding  words,'  said  the  Emperor;  'but  the 
wind  which  whistles  loudest  is  not  always  most  danger- 
ous to  the  vessel.  We  know  something  of  this  nation  of 
France,  and  have  heard  more.  They  are  as  petulant  at 
least  as  they  are  valiant;  we  will  flatter  their  vanity  till 
we  get  time  and  opportunity  for  more  effectual  defence. 
Tush!  if  words  can  pay  debt,  there  is  no  fear  of  our  ex- 
chequer becoming  insolvent.  What  follows  here,  Nice- 
phorus?  A  list,  I  suppose,  of  the  followers  of  this  great 
count? ' 

'My  liege,  no,'  answered  Nicephorus  Briennius;  'so 
many  independent  chiefs  as  your  Imperial  Highness  sees 
in  that  memorial,  so  many  independent  European  armies 
are  advancing  by  different  routes  towards  the  East,  and 
announce  the  conquest  of  Palestine  from  the  infidels  as 
their  common  object.' 

'A  dreadful  enumeration,'  said  the  Emperor,  as  he  pe- 
rused the  list ;  '  yet  so  far  happy,  that  its  very  length  as- 
sures us  of  the  impossibility  that  so  many  princes  can 
be  seriously  and  consistently  united  in  so  wild  a  project. 
Thus  already  my  eyes  catch  the  well-known  name  of  an 
old  friend,  our  enemy — for  such  are  the  alternate  chances 
of  peace  and  war  —  Bohemond  of  Antioch.  Is  not  he  the 
son  of  the  celebrated  Robert  of  Apulia,  so  renowned 

1  See  Note  $• 
loS 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

among  his  countrymen,  who  raised  himself  to  the  rank  of 
grand  duke  from  a  simple  cavalier,  and  became  sover- 
eign of  those  of  his  warlike  nation,  both  in  Sicily  and  Italy? 
Did  not  the  standards  of  the  German  Emperor,  of  the 
Roman  Pontiff,  nay,  our  own  imperial  banners,  give  way 
before  him ;  until,  equally  a  wily  statesman  and  a  brave 
warrior,  he  became  the  terror  of  Europe,  from  being  a 
knight  whose  Norman  castle  would  have  been  easily 
garrisoned  by  six  cross-bows  and  as  many  lances?  It  is 
a  dreadful  family,  a  race  of  craft  as  well  as  power.  But 
Bohemond,  the  son  of  old  Robert,  will  follow  his  father's 
politics.  He  may  talk  of  Palestine  and  of  the  interests  of 
Christendom,  but  if  I  can  make  his  interests  the  same 
with  mine,  he  is  not  likely  to  be  guided  by  any  other  ob- 
ject. So,  then,  with  the  knowledge  I  already  possess  of 
his  wishes  and  projects,  it  may  chance  that  Heaven 
sends  us  an  ally  in  the  guise  of  an  enemy.  Whom  have 
we  next?  Godfrey  ^  Duke  of  Bouillon  —  leading,  I  see, 
a  most  formidable  band  from  the  banks  of  a  huge  river 
called  the  Rhine.  What  is  this  person's  character? ' 

'As  we  hear,'  replied  Nicephorus,  '  this  Godfrey  is  one 
of  the  wisest,  noblest,  and  bravest  of  the  leaders  who  have 
thus  strangely  put  themselves  in  motion;  and  among  a 
list  of  independent  princes,  as  many  in  number  as  those 
who  assembled  for  the  siege  of  Troy,  and  followed,  most 
of  them,  by  subjects  ten  times  more  numerous,  this  God- 
frey may  be  regarded  as  the  Agamemnon.  The  princes 
and  counts  esteem  him,  because  he  is  the  foremost  in  the 
ranks  of  those  whom  they  fantastically  call  knights,  and 
also  on  account  of  the  good  faith  and  generosity  which  he 

^  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  Duke  of  Lower  Lorraine,  the  great  captain  of 
the  first  Crusade,  afterwards  King  of  Jerusalem.  See  Gibbon,  or  Mills, 
passim. 

109 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

practises  in  all  his  transactions.  The  clergy  give  him 
credit  for  the  highest  zeal  for  the  doctrines  of  religion, 
and  a  corresponding  respect  for  the  church  and  its  dig- 
nitaries. Justice,  liberality,  and  frankness  have  equally 
attached  to  this  Godfrey  the  lower  class  of  the  people. 
His  general  attention  to  moral  obligations  is  a  pledge  to 
them  that  his  religion  is  real;  and,  gifted  with  so  much 
that  is  excellent,  he  is  already,  although  inferior  in  rank, 
birth,  and  power  to  many  chiefs  of  the  crusade,  justly 
regarded  as  one  of  its  principal  leaders.' 

'Pity,'  said  the  Emperor,  'that  a  character  such  as 
you  describe  this  prince  to  be  should  be  under  the  do- 
minion of  a  fanaticism  scarce  worthy  of  Peter  the  Her- 
mit, or  the  clownish  multitude  which  he  led,  or  of  the 
very  ass  which  he  rode  upon;  which  I  am  apt  to  think 
the  wisest  of  the  first  multitude  whom  we  beheld,  seeing 
that  it  ran  away  towards  Europe  as  soon  as  water  and 
barley  became  scarce.' 

'Might  I  be  permitted  here  to  speak  and  yet  live,' 
said  Agelastes,  'I  would  remark,  that  the  Patriarch 
himself  made  a  similar  retreat  so  soon  as  blows  became 
plenty  and  food  scarce.' 

'Thou  hast  hit  it,  Agelastes,'  said  the  Emperor;  'but 
the  question  now  is,  whether  an  honourable  and  impor- 
tant principality  could  not  be  formed  out  of  part  of  the 
provinces  of  the  Lesser  Asia,  now  laid  waste  by  the 
Turks.  Such  a  principality,  methinks,  with  its  various 
advantages  of  soil,  climate,  industrious  inhabitants,  and 
a  healthy  atmosphere,  were  well  worth  the  morasses  of 
Bouillon.  It  might  be  held  as  a  dependence  upon  the 
sacred  Roman  em^pire,  and  garrisoned,  as  it  were,  by 
Godfrey  and  his  victorious  Franks  would  be  a  bulwark 

no 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

on  that  point  to  our  just  and  sacred  person.  Ha !  most 
holy  Patriarch,  would  not  such  a  prospect  shake  the 
most  devout  crusader's  attachment  to  the  burning  sands 
of  Palestine?' 

'Especially,'  answered  the  Patriarch,  'if  the  prince 
for  whom  such  a  rich  "theme"  ^  was  changed  into  a  feu- 
dal appanage  should  be  previously  converted  to  the  only 
true  faith,  as  your  Imperial  Highness  undoubtedly 
means.' 

'Certainly  —  most  unquestionably,'  answered  the 
Emperor,  with  a  due  affectation  of  gravity,  notwithstand- 
ing he  was  internally  conscious  how  often  he  had  been 
compelled,  by  state  necessities,  to  admit,  not  only  Latin 
Christians,  but  Manichaeans,  and  other  heretics,  nay, 
Mohammedan  barbarians,  into  the  number  of  his  sub- 
jects, and  that  without  experiencing  opposition  from  the 
scruples  of  the  Patriarch.  'Here  I  find,'  continued  the 
Emperor,  '  such  a  numerous  list  of  princes  and  princi- 
palities in  the  act  of  approaching  our  boundaries  as  might 
well  rival  the  armies  of  old,  who  were  said  to  have  drunk 
up  rivers,  exhausted  realms,  and  trode  down  forests,  in 
their  wasteful  advance.'  As  he  pronounced  these  words, 
a  shade  of  paleness  came  over  the  imperial  brow,  simi- 
lar to  that  which  had  already  clothed  in  sadness  most  of 
his  counsellors. 

'This  war  of  nations,'  said  Nicephorus,  'has  also  cir- 
cumstances distinguishing  it  from  every  other,  save  that 
which  his  Imperial  Highness  hath  waged  in  former  times 
against  those  whom  we  are  accustomed  to  call  Franks. 
We  must  go  forth  against  a  people  to  whom  the  strife  of 
combat  is  as  the  breath  of  their  nostrils ;  who,  rather  than 

^  The  provinces  were  called  '  themes.' 
Ill 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

not  be  engaged  in  war,  will  do  battle  with  their  nearest 
neighbours,  and  challenge  each  other  to  mortal  fight,  as 
much  in  sport  as  we  would  defy  a  comrade  to  a  chariot 
race.  They  are  covered  with  an  impenetrable  armour  of 
steel,  defending  them  from  blows  of  the  lance  and  sword, 
and  which  the  uncommon  strength  of  their  horses  ren- 
ders them  able  to  support,  though  one  of  ours  could  as 
well  bear  Mount  Olympus  upon  his  loins.  Their  foot 
ranks  carry  a  missile  weapon  unknown  to  us,  termed 
an  arblast,  or  cross-bow.  It  is  not  drawn  with  the  right 
hand,  like  the  bow  of  other  nations,  but  by  placing  the 
feet  upon  the  weapon  itself,  and  pulHng  with  the  whole 
force  of  the  body ;  and  it  despatches  arrows  called  bolts, 
of  hard  wood  pointed  with  iron,  which  the  strength  of 
the  bow  can  send  through  the  strongest  breastplates,  and 
even  through  stone  walls,  where  not  of  uncommon  thick- 
ness.' 

'Enough,'  said  the  Emperor;  'we  have  seen  with  our 
own  eyes  the  lances  of  Frankish  knights  and  the  cross- 
bows of  their  infantry.  If  Heaven  has  allotted  them  a 
degree  of  bravery  which  to  other  nations  seems  well-nigh 
preternatural,  the  Divine  will  has  given  to  the  Greek 
councils  that  wisdom  which  it  hath  refused  to  barbarians 
—  the  art  of  achieving  conquest  by  wisdom  rather  than 
brute  force,  obtaining  by  our  skill  in  treaty  advantages 
which  victory  itself  could  not  have  procured.  If  we  have 
not  the  use  of  that  dreadful  weapon  which  our  son-in-law 
terms  the  cross-bow.  Heaven,  in  its  favour,  has  concealed 
from  these  Western  barbarians  the  composition  and  use  of 
the  Greek  fire  —  well  so  called,  since  by  Grecian  hands 
alone  it  is  prepared,  and  by  such  only  can  its  lightnings  be 
darted  upon  the  astonished  foe.'  The  Emperor  paused 

112 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  looked  around  him;  and  although  the  faces  of  his 
counsellors  still  looked  blank,  he  boldly  proceeded : '  But 
to  return  yet  again  to  this  black  scroll,  containing  the 
names  of  those  nations  who  approach  our  frontier,  here 
occur  more  than  one  with  which,  me  thinks,  old  memory 
should  make  us  familiar,  though  our  recollections  are 
distant  and  confused.  It  becomes  us  to  know  who  these 
men  are,  that  we  may  avail  ourselves  of  those  feuds  and 
quarrels  among  them  which,  being  blown  into  life,  may 
happily  divert  them  from  the  prosecution  of  this  extra- 
ordinary attempt  in  which  they  are  now  united.  Here 
is,  for  example,  one  Robert,  styled  Duke  of  Normandy, 
who  commands  a  goodly  band  of  counts,  with  which  title 
we  are  but  too  well  acquainted;  of  "earls,"  a  word  to- 
tally strange  to  us,  but  apparently  some  barbaric  title 
of  honour;  and  of  knights,  whose  names  are  compounded, 
as  we  think,  chiefly  of  the  French  language,  but  also  of 
another  jargon,  which  we  are  not  ourselves  competent 
to  understand.  To  you,  most  reverend  and  most  learned 
Patriarch,  we  may  fittest  apply  for  information  on  this 
subject.' 

'The  duties  of  my  station,'  replied  the  Patriarch  Zosi- 
mus,  'have  withheld  my  riper  years  from  studying  the 
history  of  distant  realms;  but  the  wise  Agelastes,  who 
hath  read  as  many  volumes  as  would  fill  the  shelves  of 
the  famous  Alexandrian  Ubrary,  can  no  doubt  satisfy 
your  Imperial  Majesty's  inquiries.' 

Agelastes  erected  himself  on  those  enduring  legs 
which  had  procured  him  the  surname  of  Elephant,  and 
began  a  reply  to  the  inquiries  of  the  Emperor  rather  re- 
markable for  readiness  than  accuracy.  'I  have  read,' 
said  he,  '  in  that  brilliant  mirror  which  reflects  the  time 
43  113 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  our  fathers,  the  volumes  of  the  learned  Procopius, 
that  the  people  separately  called  Normans  and  Angles 
are  in  truth  the  same  race,  and  that  Normandy,  some- 
times so  called,  is  in  fact  a  part  of  a  district  of  Gaul. 
Beyond  and  nearly  opposite  to  it,  but  separated  by  an 
arm  of  the  sea,  lies  a  ghastly  region,  on  which  clouds 
and  tempests  for  ever  rest,  and  which  is  well  known  to  its 
continental  neighbours  as  the  abode  to  which  departed 
spirits  are  sent  after  this  life.  On  one  side  of  the  strait 
dwell  a  few  fishermen,  men  possessed  of  a  strange  char- 
ter, and  enjoying  singular  privileges,  in  consideration  of 
their  being  the  Hving  ferr3nnen  who,  performing  the  office 
of  the  heathen  Charon,  carry  the  spirits  of  the  departed 
to  the  island  which  is  their  residence  after  death.  At  the 
dead  of  night  these  fishermen  are,  in  rotation,  summoned 
to  perform  the  duty  by  which  they  seem  to  hold  the  per- 
mission to  reside  on  this  strange  coast.  A  knock  is  heard 
at  the  door  of  his  cottage  who  holds  the  turn  of  this  sin- 
gular service,  sounded  by  no  mortal  hand.  A  whispering, 
as  of  a  decaying  breeze,  summons  the  ferryman  to  his 
duty.  He  hastens  to  his  bark  on  the  sea-shore,  and  has 
no  sooner  launched  it  than  he  perceives  its  hull  sink 
sensibly  in  the  water,  so  as  to  express  the  weight  of  the 
dead  with  whom  it  is  filled.  No  form  is  seen,  and  though 
voices  are  heard,  yet  the  accents  are  undistinguishable, 
as  of  one  who  speaks  in  his  sleep.  Thus  he  traverses  the 
strait  between  the  continent  and  the  island,  impressed 
with  the  mysterious  awe  which  affects  the  living  when 
they  are  conscious  of  the  presence  of  the  dead.  They  ar- 
rive upon  the  opposite  coast,  where  the  cliffs  of  white 
chalk  form  a  strange  contrast  with  the  eternal  darkness 
of  the  atmosphere.    They  stop  at  a  landing-place  ap- 

114 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

pointed,  but  disembark  not,  for  the  land  is  never  trodden 
by  earthly  feet.  Here  the  passage-boat  is  gradually 
lightened  of  its  unearthly  inmates,  who  wander  forth  in 
the  way  appointed  to  them,  while  the  mariners  slowly 
return  to  their  own  side  of  the  strait,  having  performed 
for  the  time  this  singular  service,  by  which  they  hold 
their  fishing-huts  and  their  possessions  on  that  strange 
coast.' 

Here  he  ceased;  and  the  Emperor  replied  —  'If  this 
legend  be  actually  told  us  by  Procopius,  most  learned 
Agelastes,  it  shows  that  that  celebrated  historian  came 
more  near  the  heathen  than  the  Christian  belief  respect- 
ing the  future  state.  In  truth,  this  is  little  more  than  the 
old  fable  of  the  infernal  Styx.  Procopius,  we  believe, 
lived  before  the  decay  of  heathenism,  and,  as  we  would 
gladly  disbelieve  much  which  he  hath  told  us  respecting 
our  ancestor  and  predecessor  Justinian,  so  we  will  not 
pay  him  much  credit  in  future  in  point  of  geographical 
knowledge.  Meanwhile,  what  ails  thee,  Achilles  Tatius, 
and  why  dost  thou  whisper  with  that  soldier? ' 

'My  head,'  answered  Achilles  Tatius,  'is  at  your  im- 
perial command,  prompt  to  pay  for  the  unbecoming  tres- 
pass of  my  tongue.  I  did  but  ask  of  this  Hereward  here 
what  he  knew  of  this  matter;  for  I  have  heard  my  Varan- 
gians repeatedly  call  themselves  Anglo-Danes,  Normans, 
Britons,  or  some  other  barbaric  epithet,  and  I  am  sure 
that  one  or  other,  or  it  may  be  all,  of  these  barbarous, 
sounds  at  different  times  serve  to  designate  the  birth- 
place of  these  exiles,  too  happy  in  being  banished  from 
the  darkness  of  barbarism  to  the  luminous  vicinity  of 
your  imperial  presence.' 

'Speak,  then,  Varangian,  in  the  name  of  Heaven/ 

"5 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

said  the  Emperor,  'and  let  us  know  whether  we  are  to 
look  for  friends  or  enemies  in  those  men  of  Normandy 
who  are  now  approaching  our  frontier.  Speak  with  cour- 
age, man;  and  if  thou  apprehendest  danger,  remember 
thou  servest  a  prince  well  quahfied  to  protect  thee.' 

'Since  I  am  at  liberty  to  speak,'  answered  the  life- 
guardsman,  'although  my  knowledge  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, which  you  term  the  Roman,  is  but  slight,  I  trust  it 
is  enough  to  demand  of  his  Imperial  Highness,  in  place  of 
all  pay,  donative,  or  gift  whatsoever,  since  he  has  been 
pleased  to  talk  of  designing  such  for  me,  that  he  would 
place  me  in  the  first  hne  of  battle  which  shall  be  formed 
against  these  same  Normans  and  their  Duke  Robert; 
and  if  he  pleases  to  allow  me  the  aid  of  such  Varangians 
as,  for  love  of  me,  or  hatred  of  their  ancient  tyrants,  may 
be  disposed  to  join  their  arms  to  mine,  I  have  little 
doubt  so  to  settle  our  long  accounts  with  these  men,  that 
the  Grecian  eagles  and  wolves  shall  do  them  the  last  of- 
fice, by  tearing  the  flesh  from  their  bones.' 

'What  dreadful  feud  is  this,  my  soldier,'  said  the  Em- 
peror, '  that  after  so  many  years  still  drives  thee  to  such 
extremities  when  the  very  name  of  Normandy  is  men- 
tioned? ' 

'Your  Imperial  Highness  shall  be  judge,'  said  the 
Varangian.  '  My  fathers,  and  those  of  most,  though  not 
all,  of  the  corps  to  whom  I  belong,  are  descended  from 
a  valiant  race  who  dwelt  in  the  north  of  Germany,  called 
Anglo-Saxons.  Nobody,  save  a  priest  possessed  of  the 
art  of  consulting  ancient  chronicles,  can  even  guess  how 
long  it  is  since  they  came  to  the  island  of  Britain,  then 
distracted  with  civil  war.  They  came,  however,  on  the 
petition  of  the  natives  of  the  island,  for  the  aid  of  the 

ii6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Angles  was  requested  by  the  southern  inhabitants.  Pro- 
vinces were  granted  in  recompense  of  the  aid  thus  liber- 
ally afforded,  and  the  greater  proportion  of  the  island  be- 
came, by  degrees,  the  property  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  who 
occupied  it  at  first  as  several  principalities,  and  latterly 
as  one  kingdom,  speaking  the  language,  and  observing 
the  laws,  of  most  of  those  who  now  form  your  imperial 
body-guard  of  Varangians,  or  exiles.  In  process  of  time, 
the  Northmen  became  known  to  the  people  of  the  more 
southern  climates.  They  were  so  called  from  their  com- 
ing from  the  distant  regions  of  the  Baltic  Sea  —  an  im- 
mense ocean,  sometimes  frozen  with  ice  as  hard  as  the 
cliffs  of  Mount  Caucasus.  They  came  seeking  milder 
regions  than  nature  had  assigned  them  at  home;  and 
the  climate  of  France  being  delightful,  and  its  people 
slow  in  battle,  they  extorted  from  them  the  grant  of  a 
large  province,  which  was,  from  the  name  of  the  new  set- 
tlers, called  Normandy,  though  I  have  heard  my  father 
say  that  was  not  its  proper  appellation.  They  settled 
there  under  a  duke,  who  acknowledged  the  superior  au- 
thority of  the  king  of  France,  that  is  to  say,  obeying 
him  when  it  suited  his  convenience  so  to  do. 

'Now  it  chanced  many  years  since,  while  these  two 
nations  of  Normans  and  Anglo-Saxons  were  quietly  re- 
siding upon  different  sides  of  the  salt-water  channel 
which  divides  France  from  England,  that  WilUam,  Duke 
of  Normandy,  suddenly  levied  a  large  army,  came  over 
to  Kent,  which  is  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  channel,  and 
there  defeated,  in  a  great  battle,  Harold,  who  was  at 
that  time  king  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  It  is  but  grief  to 
tell  what  followed.  Battles  have  been  fought  in  old  time 
that  have  had  dreadful  results,  which  years,  neverthe- 

117 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

less,  could  wash  away;  but  at  Hastings  —  O  woe's  me! 
— the  banner  of  my  country  fell,  never  again  to  be  raised 
up.  Oppression  has  driven  her  wheel  over  us.  All  that 
was  valiant  amongst  us  have  left  the  land;  and  of  ling- 
lishmen  —  for  such  is  our  proper  designation  —  no  one 
remains  in  England  save  as  the  thrall  of  the  invaders. 
Many  men  of  Danish  descent,  who  had  found  their  way 
on  different  occasions  to  England,  were  blended  in  the 
common  calamity.  All  was  laid  desolate  by  the  com- 
mand of  the  victors.  My  father's  home  Ues  now  an  un- 
distinguished ruin,  amid  an  extensive  forest,  composed 
out  of  what  were  formerly  fair  fields  and  domestic  pas- 
tures, where  a  manly  race  derived  nourishment  by  cul- 
tivating a  friendly  soil.  The  fire  has  destroyed  the 
church  where  sleep  the  fathers  of  my  race;  and  I,  the 
last  of  their  fine,  am  a  wanderer  in  other  climates,  a 
fighter  of  the  battles  of  others,  the  servant  of  a  foreign, 
though  a  kind,  master,  in  a  word,  one  of  the  banished 
—  a  Varangian.' 

*  Happier  in  that  station,'  said  Achilles  Tatius,  'than 
in  all  the  barbaric  simplicity  which  your  forefathers 
prized  so  highly,  since  you  are  now  under  the  cheering 
influence  of  that  smile  which  is  the  Hfe  of  the  world.' 

*It  avails  not  talking  of  this,'  said  the  Varangian,  with 
a  cold  gesture. 

'These  Normans,'  said  the  Emperor,  *are  then  the 
people  by  whom  the  celebrated  island  of  Britain  is  now 
conquered  and  governed?' 

*It  is  but  too  true,'  answered  the  Varangian. 

'They  are,  then,  a  brave  and  warlike  people?'  said 
Alexius. 

'It  would  be  base  and  false  to  say  otherwise  of  an 
ii8 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

enemy/  said  Hereward.  'Wrong  have  they  done  me, 
and  a  wrong  never  to  be  atoned ;  but  to  speak  falsehood 
of  them  were  but  a  woman's  vengeance.  Mortal  enemies 
as  they  are  to  me,  and  mingling  with  all  my  recollections 
as  that  which  is  hateful  and  odious,  yet  were  the  troops 
of  Europe  mustered,  as  it  seems  they  are  likely  to  be,  no 
nation  or  tribe  dared  in  gallantry  claim  the  advance 
of  the  haughty  Norman.' 

'And  this  Duke  Robert,  who  is  he?' 

'That,'  answered  the  Varangian,  'I  cannot  so  well  ex- 
plain. He  is  the  son  —  the  eldest  son,  as  men  say,  of  the 
tyrant  William,  who  subdued  England  when  I  hardly 
existed,  or  was  a  child  in  the  cradle.  That  William,  the 
victor  of  Hastings,  is  now  dead,  we  are  assured  by  con- 
curring testimony;  but  while  it  seems  his  eldest  son  Duke 
Robert  has  become  his  heir  to  the  duchy  of  Normandy, 
some  other  of  his  children  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to 
acquire  the  throne  of  England  —  unless,  indeed,  like 
the  petty  farm  of  some  obscure  yeoman,  the  fair  king- 
dom has  been  divided  among  the  tyrant's  issue.' 

'Concerning  this,'  said  the  Emperor,  'we  have  heard 
something,  which  we  shall  try  to  reconcile  with  the  sol- 
dier's narrative  at  leisure,  holding  the  words  of  this  hon- 
est Varangian  as  positive  proof,  in  whatsoever  he  avers 
from  his  own  knowledge.  And  now,  my  grave  and  worthy 
counsellors,  we  must  close  this  evening's  service  in  the 
temple  of  the  Muses,  this  distressing  news,  brought  us  by 
our  dearest  son-in-law,  the  Caesar,  having  induced  us  to 
prolong  our  worship  of  these  learned  goddesses  deeper 
into  the  night  than  is  consistent  with  the  health  of  our 
beloved  wife  and  daughter;  while,  to  ourselves,  this  in- 
telligence brings  subject  for  grave  deliberation.' 

119 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  courtiers  exhausted  their  ingenuity  in  forming 
the  most  ingenious  prayers  that  all  evil  consequences 
should  be  averted  which  could  attend  this  excessive 
vigilance. 

Nicephorus  and  his  fair  bride  spoke  together  as  a  pair 
equally  desirous  to  close  an  accidental  breach  between 
them.  *Some  things  thou  hast  said,  my  Caesar,'  observed 
the  lady,  *  in  detailing  this  dreadful  intelligence,  as  ele- 
gantly turned  as  if  the  nine  goddesses,  to  whom  this 
temple  is  dedicated,  had  lent  each  her  aid  to  the  sense 
and  expression.' 

*I  need  none  of  their  assistance,'  answered  Nicephorus, 
*  since  I  possess  a  muse  of  my  own,  in  whose  genius  are 
included  all  those  attributes  which  the  heathens  vainly 
ascribed  to  the  nine  deities  of  Parnassus.' 

'It  is  well,'  said  the  fair  historian,  retiring  by  the  as- 
sistance of  her  husband's  arm;  'but  if  you  will  load  your 
wife  with  praises  far  beyond  her  merits,  you  must  lend 
her  your  arm  to  support  her  under  the  weighty  burden 
you  have  been  pleased  to  impose. '  The  council  parted 
when  the  imperial  persons  had  retired,  and  most  of  them 
sought  to  indemnify  themselves  in  more  free,  though  less 
dignified,  circles  for  the  constraint  which  they  had  prac- 
tised in  the  temple  of  the  Muses. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Vain  man!  thou  mayst  esteem  thy  love  as  fair 

As  fond  hyperboles  suffice  to  raise. 

She  may  be  all  that 's  matchless  in  her  person, 

And  all-divine  in  soul  to  match  her  body; 

But  take  this  from  me  —  thou  shalt  never  call  her 

Superior  to  her  sex,  while  one  survives. 

And  I  am  her  true  votary. 

Old  Play. 

Achilles  Tatius,  with  his  faithful  Varangian  close  by 
his  shoulder,  melted  from  the  dispersing  assembly 
silently  and  almost  invisibly,  as  snow  is  dissolved  from  its 
Alpine  abodes  as  the  days  become  more  genial.  No  lordly 
step  or  clash  of  armour  betokened  the  retreat  of  the  miH- 
tary  persons.  The  very  idea  of  the  necessity  of  guards 
was  not  ostentatiously  brought  forward,  because,  so  near 
the  presence  of  the  Emperor,  the  emanation  supposed  to 
flit  around  that  divinity  of  earthly  sovereigns  had  credit 
for  rendering  it  impassive  and  unassailable.  Thus  the 
oldest  and  most  skilful  courtiers,  among  whom  our  friend 
Agelastes  was  not  to  be  forgotten,  were  of  opinion  that, 
although  the  Emperor  employed  the  ministry  of  the 
Varangians  and  other  guards,  it  was  rather  for  form's 
sake  than  from  any  danger  of  the  commission  of  a  crime 
of  a  kind  so  heinous  that  it  was  the  fashion  to  account 
it  almost  impossible.  And  this  doctrine,  of  the  rare  oc- 
currence of  such  a  crime,  was  repeated  from  month  to 
month  in  those  very  chambers  where  it  had  oftener 
than  once  been  perpetrated,  and  sometimes  by  the  very 
persons  who  monthly  laid  schemes  for  carrying  some 

121 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

dark  conspiracy  against  the  reigning  emperor  into  posi- 
tive execution. 

At  length  the  captain  of  the  Hfe-guardsmen  and  his 
faithful  attendant  found  themselves  on  the  outside  of 
the  Blacquernal  Palace.  The  passage  which  Achilles 
found  for  their  exit  was  closed  by  a  postern  which  a  single 
Varangian  shut  behind  them,  drawing,  at  the  same  time, 
bolt  and  bar  with  an  ill-omened  and  jarring  sound.  Look- 
ing back  at  the  mass  of  turrets,  battlements  and  spires 
out  of  which  they  had  at  length  emerged,  Here  ward  could 
not  but  feel  his  heart  hghten  to  find  himself  once  more 
under  the  deep  blue  of  a  Grecian  heaven,  where  the  plan- 
ets were  burning  with  unusual  lustre.  He  sighed  and 
rubbed  his  hands  with  pleasure,  like  a  man  newly  re- 
stored to  liberty.  He  even  spoke  to  his  leader,  contrary 
to  his  custom  unless  addressed.  'Methinks  the  air  of 
yonder  halls,  valorous  captain,  carries  with  it  a  perfume 
which,  though  it  may  be  well  termed  sweet,  is  so  suffo- 
cating as  to  be  more  suitable  to  sepulchrous  chambers 
than  to  the  dwellings  of  men.  Happy  I  am  that  I  am 
free,  as  I  trust,  from  its  influences.' 

*Be  happy,  then,'  said  Achilles  Tatius,  'since  thy 
vile,  cloddish  spirit  feels  suffocation  rather  than  refresh- 
ment in  gales  which,  instead  of  causing  death,  might  re- 
call the  dead  themselves  to  life.  Yet  this  I  will  say  for 
thee,  Hereward,  that,  born  a  barbarian  within  the  narrow 
circle  of  a  savage's  desires  and  pleasures,  and  having  no 
idea  of  life  save  what  thou  derivest  from  such  vile  and 
base  connexions,  thou  art,  nevertheless,  designed  by  na- 
ture for  better  things,  and  hast  this  day  sustained  a 
trial  in  which,  I  fear  me,  not  even  one  of  mine  own  noble 
corps,  frozen  as  they  are  into  lumps  of  unfashioned  bar- 

122 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

barity,  could  have  equalled  thy  bearing.  And  speak  now 
in  true  faith,  hast  not  thou  been  rewarded? ' 

'That  will  I  never  deny,'  said  the  Varangian.  'The 
pleasure  of  knowing,  twenty-four  hours  perhaps  before 
my  comrades,  that  the  Normans  are  coming  hither  to 
afford  us  a  full  revenge  of  the  bloody  day  of  Hastings  is  a 
lordly  recompense  for  the  task  of  spending  some  hours 
in  hearing  the  lengthened  chat  of  a  lady,  who  has  written 
about  she  knows  not  what,  and  the  flattering  commen- 
taries of  the  bystanders,  who  pretended  to  give  her  an 
account  of  what  they  did  not  themselves  stop  to  wit- 
ness.' 

'  Hereward,  my  good  youth,'  said  Achilles  Tatius,  *  thou 
ravest,  and  I  think  I  should  do  well  to  place  thee  under 
the  custody  of  some  person  of  skill.  Too  much  hardi- 
hood, my  valiant  soldier,  is  in  soberness  allied  to  over- 
daring.  It  was  only  natural  that  thou  shouldst  feel 
becoming  pride  in  thy  late  position ;  yet,  let  it  but  taint 
thee  with  vanity,  and  the  effect  will  be  little  short  of 
madness.  Why,  thou  hast  looked  boldly  in  the  face  of  a 
princess  born  in  the  purple,  before  whom  my  own  eyes, 
though  well  used  to  such  spectacles,  are  never  raised 
beyond  the  foldings  of  her  veil.' 

'So  be  it,  in  the  name  of  Heaven!'  replied  Hereward. 
'  Nevertheless,  handsome  faces  were  made  to  look  upon, 
and  the  eyes  of  young  men  to  see  withal.' 

'If  such  be  their  final  end,'  said  Achilles,  'never  did 
thine,  I  will  freely  suppose,  find  a  richer  apology  for  the 
somewhat  overbold  license  which  thou  tookest  in  thy 
gaze  upon  the  Princess  this  evening.' 

'  Good  leader,  or  Follower,  whichever  is  your  favourite 
title,'  said  the  Anglo-Briton,  'drive  hot  to  extremity  a 

123 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

plain  man,  who  desires  to  hold  his  duty  in  all  honour  to 
the  imperial  family.  The  Princess,  wife  of  the  Csesar, 
and  born,  you  tell  me,  of  a  purple  colour,  has  now  in- 
herited, notwithstanding,  the  features  of  a  most  lovely 
woman.  She  hath  composed  a  history,  of  which  I  pre- 
sume not  to  form  a  judgment,  since  I  cannot  understand 
it;  she  sings  like  an  angel;  and  to  conclude,  after  the 
fashion  of  the  knights  of  this  day  —  though  I  deal  not 
ordinarily  with  their  language  —  I  would  say  cheerfully 
that  I  am  ready  to  place  myself  in  lists  against  any  one 
whomsoever  who  dares  detract  from  the  beauty  of  the 
imperial  Anna  Comnena's  person,  or  from  the  virtues  of 
her  mind.  Having  said  this,  my  noble  captain,  we  have 
said  all  that  it  is  competent  for  you  to  inquire  into  or  for 
me  to  answer.  That  there  are  handsomer  women  than 
the  Princess  is  unquestionable;  and  I  question  it  the  less, 
that  I  have  myself  seen  a  person  whom  I  think  far  her 
superior;  and  with  that  let  us  close  the  dialogue.' 

'Thy  beauty,  thou  imparalleled  fool,'  said  Achilles, 
'must,  I  ween,  be  the  daughter  of  the  large-bodied 
Northern  boor,  living  next  door  to  him  upon  whose  farm 
was  brought  up  the  person  of  an  ass,  curst  with  such 
intolerable  want  of  judgment.' 

'You  may  say  your  pleasure,  captain,'  replied  Here- 
ward;  'because  it  is  the  safer  for  us  both  that  thou  canst 
not  on  such  a  topic  either  offend  me,  who  hold  thy  judg- 
ment as  light  as  thou  canst  esteem  mine,  or  speak  any 
derogation  of  a  person  whom  you  never  saw,  but  whom, 
if  you  had  seen,  perchance  I  might  not  so  patiently  have 
brooked  any  reflections  upon,  even  at  the  hands  of  a 
military  superior.' 

Achilles  Tatius  had  a  good  deal  of  the  penetration 
124 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

necessary  for  one  in  his  situation.  He  never  provoked  to 
extremity  the  daring  spirits  whom  he  commanded,  and 
never  used  any  freedom  with  them  beyond  the  extent 
that  he  knew  their  patience  could  bear.  Hereward  was  a 
favourite  soldier,  and  had,  in  that  respect  at  least,  a 
sincere  liking  and  regard  for  his  commander;  when, 
therefore,  the  Follower,  instead  of  resenting  his  petu- 
lance, good-humouredly  apologised  for  having  hurt  his 
feelings,  the  momentary  displeasure  between  them  was 
at  an  end :  the  officer  at  once  reassumed  his  superiority, 
and  the  soldier  sunk  back  with  a  deep  sigh,  given  to 
some  period  which  was  long  past,  into  his  wonted  silence 
and  reserve.  Indeed,  the  Follower  had  another  and  fur- 
ther design  upon  Hereward,  of  which  he  was  as  yet  un- 
willing to  do  more  than  give  a  distant  hint. 

After  a  long  pause,  during  which  they  approached  the 
barracks,  a  gloomy  fortified  building  constructed  for  the 
residence  of  their  corps,  the  captain  motioned  his  soldier 
to  draw  close  up  to  his  side,  and  proceeded  to  ask  him,  in 
a  confidential  tone  —  'Hereward,  my  friend,  although  it 
it  scarce  to  be  supposed  that  in  the  presence  of  the  im- 
perial family  thou  shouldst  mark  any  one  who  did  not 
partake  of  their  blood,  or  rather,  as  Homer  has  it,  who 
did  not  participate  of  the  divine  ichor,  which,  in  their 
sacred  persons,  supplies  the  place  of  that  vulgar  fluid, 
yet,  during  so  long  an  audience,  thou  mightst  possibly, 
from  his  uncourtly  person  and  attire,  have  distinguished 
Agelastes,  whom  we  courtiers  call  the  Elephant,  from  his 
strict  observation  of  the  rule  which  forbids  any  one  to 
sit  down  or  rest  in  the  imperial  presence? ' 

*I  think,'  replied  the  soldier,  'I  marked  the  man  you 
mean:  his  age  was  some  seventy  and  upwards  —  a  big, 

125 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

burly  person;  and  the  baldness  which  reached  to  the  top 
of  his  head  was  well  atoned  for  by  a  white  beard  of  pro- 
digious size,  which  descended  in  waving  curls  over  his 
breast,  and  reached  to  the  towel  with  which  his  loins 
were  girded,  instead  of  the  silken  sash  used  by  other 
persons  of  rank.' 

*Most  accurately  marked,  my  Varangian,'  said  the 
ofl&cer.  'What  else  didst  thou  note  about  this  person?' 

*  His  cloak  was  in  its  texture  as  coarse  as  that  of  the 
meanest  of  the  people,  but  it  was  strictly  clean,  as  if  it 
had  been  the  intention  of  the  wearer  to  exhibit  poverty, 
or  carelessness  and  contempt  of  dress,  avoiding,  at  the 
same  time,  every  particular  which  implied  anything  negli- 
gent, sordid,  or  disgusting.' 

'By  St.  Sophia,'  said  the  officer, ' thou  astonishest  me! 
The  prophet  Balaam  was  not  more  surprised  when  his 
ass  turned  round  her  head  and  spoke  to  him.  And  what 
else  didst  thou  note  concerning  this  man?  I  see  those  who 
meet  thee  must  beware  of  thy  observation  as  well  as  of 
thy  battle-axe.' 

'If  it  please  your  valour,'  answered  the  soldier,  'we 
English  have  eyes  as  well  as  hands ;  but  it  is  only  when 
discharging  our  duty  that  we  permit  our  tongues  to  dwell 
on  what  we  have  observed.  I  noted  but  little  of  this 
man's  conversation ;  but  from  what  I  heard,  it  seemed  he 
was  not  unwilling  to  play  what  we  call  the  jester,  or  jack- 
pudding,  in  the  conversation  —  a  character  which,  con- 
sidering the  man's  age  and  physiognomy,  is  not,  I  should 
be  tempted  to  say,  natural,  but  assumed  for  some  pur- 
pose of  deeper  import.' 

'Hereward,'  answered  his  officer,  'thou  hast  spoken 
like  an  angel  sent  down  to  examine  men's  bosoms:  that 

126 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

man,  Agelastes,  is  a  contradiction  such  as  earth  has  sel- 
dom witnessed.  Possessing  all  that  wisdom  which  in 
former  times  united  the  sages  of  this  nation  with  the  gods 
themselves,  Agelastes  has  the  same  cunning  as  the  elder 
Brutus,  who  disguised  his  talents  under  the  semblance  of 
an  idle  jester.  He  appears  to  seek  no  office  —  he  desires 
no  consideration  —  he  pays  suit  at  court  only  when  posi- 
tively required  to  do  so;  yet  what  shall  I  say,  my  soldier, 
concerning  the  cause  of  an  influence  gained  without 
apparent  effort,  and  extending  almost  into  the  very 
thoughts  of  men,  who  appear  to  act  as  he  would  desire, 
without  his  soliciting  them  to  that  purpose?  Men  say 
strange  things  concerning  the  extent  of  his  communica- 
tions with  other  beings,  whom  our  fathers  worshipped 
with  prayer  and  sacrifice.  I  am  determined,  however,  to 
know  the  road  by  which  he  climbs  so  high  and  so  easily 
towards  the  point  to  which  all  men  aspire  at  court,  and  it 
will  go  hard  but  he  shall  either  share  his  ladder  with  me 
or  I  will  strike  its  support  from  under  him.  Thee,  Here- 
ward,  I  have  chosen  to  assist  me  in  this  matter,  as 
the  knights  among  these  Prankish  infidels  select,  when 
going  upon  an  adventure,  a  sturdy  squire,  or  inferior 
attendant,  to  share  the  dangers  and  the  recompense ;  and 
this  I  am  moved  to,  as  much  by  the  shrewdness  thou 
hast  this  night  manifested  as  by  the  courage  which  thou 
mayst  boast,  in  common  with,  or  rather  beyond,  thy 
companions.' 

*I  am  obliged,  and  I  thank  your  valour,'  replied  the 
Varangian,  more  coldly  perhaps  than  his  officer  ex- 
pected; 'I  am  ready,  as  is  my  duty,  to  serve  you  in  any- 
thing consistent  with  God  and  the  Emperor's  claims  upon 
my  service.  I  would  only  say  that,  as  a  sworn  inferior 

127 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

soldier,  I  will  do  nothing  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  em- 
pire, and,  as  a  sincere  though  ignorant  Christian,  I  will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  gods  of  the  heathens,  save 
to  defy  them  in  the  name  and  strength  of  the  holy 
saints.' 

'Idiot!'  said  Achilles  Tatius,  'dost  thou  think  that  I, 
already  possessed  of  one  of  the  first  dignities  of  the  em- 
pire, could  meditate  anything  contrary  to  the  interests 
of  Alexius  Comnenus?  or,  what  would  be  scarce  more 
atrocious,  that  I,  the  chosen  friend  and  ally  of  the  rever- 
end Patriarch  Zosimus,  should  meddle  with  anything 
bearing  a  relation,  however  remote,  to  heresy  or  idola- 
try?' 

'Truly,'  answered  the  Varangian,  'no  one  would  be 
more  surprised  or  grieved  than  I  should;  but  when  we 
walk  in  a  labyrinth,  we  must  assume  and  announce  that 
we  have  a  steady  and  forward  purpose,  which  is  one  mode 
at  least  of  keeping  a  straight  path.  The  people  of  this 
country  have  so  many  ways  of  saying  the  same  thing, 
that  one  can  hardly  know  at  last  what  is  their  real  mean- 
ing. We  English,  on  the  other  hand,  can  only  express 
ourselves  in  one  set  of  words,  but  it  is  one  out  of  which 
all  the  ingenuity  of  the  world  could  not  extract  a  double 
meaning.' 

"T  is  well,'  said  his  officer;  'to-morrow  we  will  talk 
more  of  this,  for  which  purpose  thou  wilt  come  to  my 
quarters  a  little  after  sunset.  And  hark  thee,  to-morrow, 
while  the  sun  is  in  heaven,  shall  be  thine  own,  either  to 
sport  thyself  or  to  repose.  Employ  thy  time  in  the  latter, 
by  my  advice,  since  to-morrow  night,  like  the  present, 
may  find  us  both  watchers.' 

So  saying,  they  entered  the  barracks,  where  they 

128 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

parted  company  —  the  commander  of  the  life-guards 
taking  his  way  to  a  splendid  set  of  apartments  which 
belonged  to  him  in  that  capacity,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon 
seeking  his  more  humble  accommodations  as  a  subaltern 
officer  of  the  same  corps. 

48 


CHAPTER  VII 

Such  forces  met  not,  nor  so  wide  a  camp. 

When  Agrican,  with  all  his  northern  powers, 

Besieged  Albracca,  as  romances  tell, 

The  city  of  Gallaphrone,  from  thence  to  win 

The  fairest  of  her  sex,  Angelica, 

His  daughter,  sought  by  many  prowess'd  knigbis. 

Both  Paynim  and  the  peers  of  Charlemagne. 

Paradise  Regained. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  day  following  that  which 
we  have  commemorated,  the  imperial  council  was  assem- 
bled, where  the  number  of  general  oflBcers  with  sounding 
titles  disguised  under  a  thin  veil  the  real  weakness  of  the 
Grecian  empire.  The  commanders  were  numerous,  and 
the  distinctions  of  their  rank  minute,  but  the  soldiers 
were  very  few  in  comparison. 

The  offices  formerly  filled  by  prefects,  praetors,  and 
questors  were  now  held  by  persons  who  had  gradually 
risen  into  the  authority  of  those  officers,  and  who,  though 
designated  from  their  domestic  duties  about  the  Em- 
peror, yet,  from  that  very  circumstance,  possessed  what, 
in  that  despotic  court,  was  the  most  effectual  source  of 
power.  A  long  train  of  ofiicers  entered  the  great  hall  of 
the  Castle  of  Blacquernal,  and  proceeded  so  far  together 
as  their  different  grades  admitted,  while  in  each  chamber 
through  which  they  passed  in  succession  a  certain  num- 
ber of  the  train,  whose  rank  permitted  them  to  advance 
no  further,  remained  behind  the  others.  Thus,  when  the 
interior  cabinet  of  audience  was  gained,  which  was  not 
until  their  passage  through  ten  ante-rooms,  five  persons 
only  found  themselves  in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor 

130 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

in  this  innermost  and  most  sacred  recess  of  royalty, 
decorated  by  all  the  splendour  of  the  period. 

The  Emperor  Alexius  sat  upon  a  stately  throne,  rich 
with  barbaric  gems  and  gold,  and  flanked  on  either  hand, 
in  imitation  probably  of  Solomon's  magnificence,  with 
the  form  of  a  couchant  lion  in  the  same  precious  metal. 
Not  to  dwell  upon  other  marks  of  splendour,  a  tree,  whose 
trunk  seemed  also  of  gold,  shot  up  behind  the  throne, 
which  it  overcanopied  with  its  branches.  Amid  the 
boughs  were  birds  of  various  kinds,  curiously  wrought 
and  enamelled,  and  fruit  composed  of  precious  stones 
seemed  to  glisten  among  the  leaves.  Five  officers  alone, 
the  highest  in  the  state,  had  the  privilege  of  entering  this 
sacred  recess  when  the  Emperor  held  council.  These 
were  the  Grand  Domestic,  who  might  be  termed  of  rank 
with  a  modern  prime  minister;  the  Logothete,  or  chan- 
cellor; the  Protospathaire,  or  commander  of  the  guards, 
already  mentioned ;  the  Acolyte,  or  Follower,  and  leader 
of  the  Varangians;  and  the  Patriarch. 

The  doors  of  this  secret  apartment  and  the  adjacent 
ante-chamber  were  guarded  by  six  deformed  Nubian 
slaves,  whose  writhen  and  withered  countenances  formed 
a  hideous  contrast  with  their  snow-white  dresses  and 
splendid  equipment.  They  were  mutes,  a  species  of 
wretches  borrowed  from  the  despotism  of  the  East,  that 
they  might  be  unable  to  proclaim  the  deeds  of  tyranny 
of  which  they  were  the  unscrupulous  agents.  They  were 
generally  held  in  a  kind  of  horror  rather  than  compas- 
sion, for  men  considered  that  slaves  of  this  sort  had  a 
malignant  pleasure  in  avenging  upon  others  the  irrepa- 
rable wrongs  which  had  severed  themselves  from  hu- 
manity. 

131 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

It  was  a  general  custom,  though,  like  many  other 
usages  of  the  Greeks,  it  would  be  held  childish  in  modern 
times,  that,  by  means  of  machinery  easily  conceived, 
the  lions,  at  the  entrance  of  a  stranger,  were  made,  as  it 
were,  to  rouse  themselves  and  roar,  after  which  a  wind 
seemed  to  rustle  the  foliage  of  the  tree,  the  birds  hopped 
from  branch  to  branch,  pecked  the  fruit,  and  appeared 
to  fill  the  chamber  with  their  carolling.  This  display 
had  alarmed  many  an  ignorant  foreign  ambassador,  and 
even  the  Grecian  counsellors  themselves  were  expected 
to  display  the  same  sensations  of  fear,  succeeded  by  sur- 
prise, when  they  heard  the  roar  of  the  lions,  followed 
by  the  concert  of  the  birds,  although  perhaps  it  was  for 
the  fiftieth  time.  On  this  occasion,  as  a  proof  of  the  ur- 
gency of  the  present  meeting  of  the  council,  these  cere- 
monies were  entirely  omitted. 

The  speech  of  the  Emperor  himself  seemed  to  supply 
by  its  commencement  the  bellowing  of  the  lions,  while  it 
ended  in  a  strain  more  resembling  the  warbling  of  the 
birds. 

In  his  first  sentences,  he  treated  of  the  audacity  and 
unheard-of  boldness  of  the  millions  of  Franks,  who,  under 
the  pretence  of  wresting  Palestine  from  the  infidels,  had 
ventured  to  invade  the  sacred  territories  of  the  empire. 
He  threatened  them  with  such  chastisement  as  his 
innumerable  forces  and  officers  would,  he  affirmed,  find 
it  easy  to  inflict.  To  all  this  the  audience,  and  especially 
the  military  officers,  gave  symptoms  of  ready  assent. 

Alexius,  however,  did  not  long  persist  in  the  warlike 
intentions  which  he  at  first  avowed.  The  Franks,  he  at 
length  seemed  to  reflect,  were,  in  profession,  Christians. 
They  might  possibly  be  serious  in  their  pretext  of  a 

132 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

crusade,  in  which  case  their  motives  claimed  a  degree 
of  indulgence,  and,  although  erring,  a  certain  portion  of 
respect.  Their  numbers  also  were  great,  and  their  valour 
could  not  be  despised  by  those  who  had  seen  them  fight 
at  Durazzo  ^  and  elsewhere.  They  might  also,  by  the 
permission  of  Supreme  Providence,  be  in  the  long-run, 
the  instruments  of  advantage  to  the  most  sacred  empire, 
though  they  approached  it  with  so  little  ceremony.  He 
had,  therefore,  mingling  the  virtues  of  prudence,  hu- 
manity, and  generosity  with  that  valour  which  must  al- 
ways burn  in  the  heart  of  an  Emperor,  formed  a  plan, 
which  he  was  about  to  submit  to  their  consideration, 
for  present  execution;  and,  in  the  first  place,  he  requested 
of  the  Grand  Domestic  to  let  him  know  what  forces  he 
might  count  upon  on  the  western  side  of  the  Bosphorus. 

*  Innumerable  are  the  forces  of  the  empire  as  the  stars 
in  heaven,  or  the  sand  on  the  sea-shore,'  answered  the 
Grand  Domestic. 

'That  is  a  goodly  answer,'  said  the  Emperor,  'pro- 
vided there  were  strangers  present  at  this  conference; 
but,  since  we  hold  consultation  in  private,  it  is  necessary 
that  I  know  precisely  to  what  number  that  army  amounts 
which  I  have  to  rely  upon.  Reserve  your  eloquence  till 
some  fitter  time,  and  let  me  know  what  you,  at  this 
present  moment,  mean  by  the  word  "innumerable."' 

The  Grand  Domestic  paused,  and  hesitated  for  a  short 
space;  but,  as  he  became  aware  that  the  moment  was 
one  in  which  the  Emperor  could  not  be  trifled  with,  for 
Alexius  Comnenus  was  at  times  dangerous,  he  answered 
thus,  but  not  without  hesitation  —  *  Imperial  master 

1  For  the  battle  of  Durazzo,  October,  1081,  in  which  Alexius  was  de- 
feated with  great  slaughter  by  Robert  Guiscard,  and  escaped  only  by 
the  swiftness  of  his  horse,  see  Gibbon,  ch.  lvi. 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

and  lord,  none  better  knows  that  such  an  answer  cannot 
be  hastily  made,  if  it  is  at  the  same  time  to  be  correct  in 
its  results.  The  number  of  the  imperial  host  betwixt  this 
city  and  the  western  frontier  of  the  empire,  deducting 
those  absent  upon  furlough,  cannot  be  counted  upon  as 
amounting  to  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  men,  or 
thirty  thousand  at  most.' 

Alexius  struck  his  forehead  with  his  hand;  and  the 
counsellors,  seeing  him  give  way  to  such  violent  expres- 
sions of  grief  and  surprise,  began  to  enter  into  discus- 
sions which  they  would  otherwise  have  reserved  for  a 
fitter  place  and  time. 

*By  the  trust  your  Highness  reposes  in  me,'  said  the 
Logothete, '  there  has  been  drawn  from  your  Highness's 
coffers  during  the  last  year  gold  enough  to  pay  double 
the  number  of  the  armed  warriors  whom  the  Grand 
Domestic  now  mentions.' 

'Your  Imperial  Highness,'  retorted  the  impeached 
minister,  with  no  small  animation, '  will  at  once  remember 
the  stationary  garrisons,  in  addition  to  the  movable 
troops,  for  which  this  figure-caster  makes  no  allowance.' 

'Peace,  both  of  you!'  said  Alexius,  composing  himself 
hastily;  'our  actual  numbers  are  in  truth  less  than  we 
counted  on,  but  let  us  not  by  wrangling  augment  the 
difficulties  of  the  time.  Let  those  troops  be  dispersed  in 
valleys,  in  passes,  behind  ridges  of  hills,  and  in  difficult 
ground,  where  a  little  art  being  used  in  the  position  can 
make  few  men  supply  the  appearance  of  numbers,  be- 
tween this  city  and  the  western  frontier  of  the  empire. 
While  this  disposal  is  made,  we  will  continue  to  adjust 
with  these  crusaders,  as  they  call  themselves,  the  terms 
on  which  we  will  consent  to  let  them  pass  through  our 

134 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

dominions;  nor  are  we  without  hope  of  negotiating  with 
them,  so  as  to  gain  great  advantage  to  our  kingdom.  We 
will  insist  that  they  pass  through  our  country  only  by 
armies  of  perhaps  fifty  thousand  at  once,  whom  we  will 
successively  transport  into  Asia,  so  that  no  greater 
number  shall,  by  assembling  beneath  our  walls,  ever 
endanger  the  safety  of  the  metropolis  of  the  world. 

*  On  their  way  towards  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus,  we 
will  supply  them  with  provisions,  if  they  march  peace- 
ably and  in  order;  and  if  any  straggle  from  their  stand- 
ards, or  insult  the  country  by  marauding,  we  suppose 
our  valiant  peasants  will  not  hesitate  to  repress  their 
excesses,  and  that  without  our  giving  positive  orders, 
since  we  would  not  willingly  be  charged  with  anything 
like  a  breach  of  engagement.  We  suppose,  also,  that  the 
Scythians,  Arabs,  Syrians,  and  other  mercenaries  in  our 
service  will  not  suffer  our  subjects  to  be  overpowered  in 
their  own  just  defence;  as,  besides  that  there  is  no  justice 
in  stripping  our  own  country  of  provisions,  in  order  to 
feed  strangers,  we  will  not  be  surprised,  nor  unpardon- 
ably  displeased,  to  learn  that,  of  the  ostensible  quantity 
of  flour,  some  sacks  should  be  foimd  filled  with  chalk,  or 
lime,  or  some  such  substance.  It  is,  indeed,  truly  won- 
derful what  the  stomach  of  a  Frank  will  digest  comfort- 
ably. Their  guides,  also,  whom  you  shall  choose  with 
reference  to  such  duty,  will  take  care  to  conduct  the 
crusaders  by  difficult  and  circuitous  routes;  which  will 
be  doing  them  a  real  service,  by  inuring  them  to  the 
hardships  of  the  country  and  climate,  which  they  would 
otherwise  have  to  face  without  seasoning. 

'  In  the  meantime,  in  your  intercourse  with  their  chiefs, 
whom  they  call  coimts,  each  of  whom  thinks  himself  as 

135 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

great  as  an  emperor,  you  will  take  care  to  give  no  offence 
to  their  natural  presumption,  and  omit  no  opportunity 
of  informing  them  of  the  wealth  and  bounty  of  our  gov- 
ernment. Sums  of  money  may  be  even  given  to  persons 
of  note,  and  largesses  of  less  avail  to  those  under  them. 
You,  our  Logothete,  will  take  good  order  for  this,  and 
you,  our  Grand  Domestic,  will  take  care  that  such  sol- 
diers as  may  cut  off  detached  parties  of  the  Franks  shall 
be  presented,  if  possible,  in  savage  dress,  and  under  the 
show  of  infidels.  In  commending  these  injunctions  to 
your  care,  I  purpose  that  the  crusaders,  having  found  the 
value  of  our  friendship,  and  also  in  some  sort  the  danger 
of  our  enmity,  those  whom  we  shall  safely  transport  to 
Asia  shall  be,  however  unwieldy,  still  a  small  and  more 
compact  body,  whom  we  may  deal  with  in  all  Christian 
prudence.  Thus,  by  using  fair  words  to  one,  threats  to 
another,  gold  to  the  avaricious,  power  to  the  ambitious, 
and  reasons  to  those  that  are  capable  of  listening  to 
them,  we  doubt  not  but  to  prevail  upon  those  Franks, 
met  as  they  are  from  a  thousand  points,  and  enemies 
of  each  other,  to  acknowledge  us  as  their  common  supe- 
rior, rather  than  choose  a  leader  among  themselves, 
when  they  are  made  aware  of  the  great  fact  that  every 
village  in  Palestine,  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  is  the 
original  property  of  the  sacred  Roman  empire,  and 
that  whatever  Christian  goes  to  war  for  their  recovery 
must  go  as  our  subject,  and  hold  any  conquest  which  he 
may  make  as  our  vassal.  Vice  and  virtue,  sense  and  folly, 
ambition  and  disinterested  devotion,  will  alike  recom- 
mend to  the  survivors  of  these  singular-minded  men  to 
become  the  feudatories  of  the  empire,  not  its  foe,  and  the 
shield,  not  the  enemy,  of  your  paternal  Emperor.' 

136 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

There  was  a  general  inclination  of  the  head  among  the 
courtiers,  with  the  Eastern  exclamation  of,  *Long  live 
the  Emperor!' 

When  the  murmur  of  this  applausive  exclamation  had 
subsided,  Alexius  proceeded  —  '  Once  more,  I  say,  that 
my  faithful  Grand  Domestic,  and  those  who  act  under 
him,  will  take  care  to  commit  the  execution  of  such  part 
of  these  orders  as  may  seem  aggressive  to  troops  of  for- 
eign appearance  and  language,  which,  I  grieve  to  say, 
are  more  mmierous  in  our  imperial  army  than  our  natural 
born  and  orthodox  subjects.' 

The  Patriarch  here  interposed  his  opinion.  'There  is 
a  consolation,'  he  said,  *  in  the  thought  that  the  genuine 
Romans  in  the  imperial  army  are  but  few,  since  a  trade 
so  bloody  as  war  is  most  fitly  prosecuted  by  those  whose 
doctrines,  as  well  as  their  doings,  on  earth  merit  eternal 
condemnation  in  the  next  world.' 

'Reverend  Patriarch,'  said  the  Emperor,  'we  would 
not  willingly  hold,  with  the  wild  infidels,  that  Paradise 
is  to  be  gained  by  the  sabre;  nevertheless,  we  would  hope 
that  a  Roman  dying  in  battle  for  his  religion  and  his  Em- 
peror may  find  as  good  hope  of  acceptation,  after  the 
mortal  pang  is  over,  as  a  man  who  dies  in  peace,  and  with 
unblooded  hand.' 

'It  is  enough  for  me  to  say,'  resumed  the  Patriarch, 
'that  the  church's  doctrine  is  not  so  indulgent:  she  is 
herself  peaceful,  and  her  promises  of  favour  are  for  those 
who  have  been  men  of  peace.  Yet  think  not  I  bar  the 
gates  of  Heaven  against  a  soldier,  as  such,  if  believing  all 
the  doctrines  of  our  church,  and  complying  with  all  our 
observances;  far  less  would  I  condemn  your  Imperial 
Majesty's  wise  precautions,  both  for  diminishing  the 

137 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

power  and  thinning  the  ranks  of  those  Latin  heretics, 
who  come  hither,  to  despoil  us,  and  plunder  perhaps 
both  church  and  temple,  under  the  vain  pretext  that 
Heaven  would  permit  them,  stained  with  so  many 
heresies,  to  reconquer  that  Holy  Land  which  true  ortho- 
dox Christians,  your  Majesty's  sacred  predecessors,  have 
not  been  enabled  to  retain  from  the  infidel.  And  well  I 
trust  that  no  settlement  made  under  the  Latins  will  be 
permitted  by  your  Majesty  to  establish  itself  in  which 
the  cross  shall  not  be  elevated  with  Umbs  of  the  same 
length,  instead  of  that  irregular  and  most  damnable  error 
which  prolongs,  in  Western  churches,  the  nether  limb 
of  that  most  holy  emblem/ 

'Reverend  Patriarch,'  answered  the  Emperor,  'do  not 
deem  that  we  think  lightly  of  your  weighty  scruples;  but 
the  question  is  now,  not  in  what  manner  we  may  convert 
these  Latin  heretics  to  the  true  faith,  but  how  we  may 
avoid  being  overrun  by  their  myriads,  which  resemble 
those  of  the  locusts  by  which  their  approach  was  pre- 
ceded and  intimated.' 

'Your  Majesty,'  said  the  Patriarch,  'will  act  with  your 
usual  wisdom ;  for  my  part,  I  have  only  stated  my  doubts, 
that  I  may  save  my  own  soul  alive.' 

'Our  construction,'  said  the  Emperor,  'does  your  sen- 
timents no  wrong,  most  reverend  Patriarch;  and  you,' 
addressing  himself  to  the  other  counsellors,  'will  attend 
to  these  separate  charges  given  out  for  directing  the  exe- 
cution  of  the  commands  which  have  been  generally 
intimated  to  you.  They  are  written  out  in  the  sacred 
ink,  and  our  sacred  subscription  is  duly  marked  with  the 
fitting  tinge  of  green  and  purple.  Let  them,  therefore, 
be  strictly  obeyed.  Ourselves  will  assume  the  command 

138 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

of  such  of  the  Immortal  Bands  as  remain  in  the  city, 
and  join  to  them  the  cohorts  of  our  faithful  Varangians. 
At  the  head  of  these  troops  we  will  await  the  arrival  of 
these  strangers  under  the  walls  of  the  city,  and,  avoiding 
combat  while  our  policy  can  postpone  it,  we  will  be  ready, 
in  case  of  the  worst,  to  take  whatsoever  chance  it  shall 
please  the  Almighty  to  send  us.' 

Here  the  council  broke  up,  and  the  different  chiefs 
began  to  exert  themselves  in  the  execution  of  their  va- 
rious instructions,  civil  and  military,  secret  or  public,  fa- 
vourable or  hostile  to  the  crusaders.  The  pecuUar  genius 
of  the  Grecian  people  was  seen  upon  this  occasion.  Their 
loud  and  boastful  talking  corresponded  with  the  ideas 
which  the  Emperor  wished  to  enforce  upon  the  crusaders 
concerning  the  extent  of  his  power  and  resources.  Nor 
is  it  to  be  disguised  that  the  wily  selfishness  of  most  of 
those  in  the  service  of  Alexius  endeavoured  to  find  some 
indirect  way  of  applying  the  imperial  instruction  so  as 
might  best  suit  their  own  private  ends. 

Meantime,  the  news  had  gone  abroad  in  Constantinople 
of  the  arrival  of  the  huge  miscellaneous  army  of  the  West 
upon  the  limits  of  the  Grecian  empire,  and  of  their  pur- 
pose to  pass  to  Palestine.  A  thousand  reports  magnified, 
if  that  was  possible,  an  event  so  wonderful.  Some  said 
that  their  ultimate  view  was  the  conquest  of  Arabia,  the 
destruction  of  the  Prophet's  tomb,  and  the  conversion 
of  his  green  banner  into  a  horse-cloth  for  the  king  of 
France's  brother.  Others  supposed  that  the  ruin  and 
sack  of  Constantinople  was  the  real  object  of  the  war. 
A  third  class  thought  it  was  in  order  to  compel  the  Pa- 
triarch to  submit  himself  to  the  Pope,  adopt  the  Latin 
form  of  the  cross,  and  put  an  end  to  the  schism. 

139 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  Varangians  enjoyed  an  addition  to  this  wonder- 
ful news,  seasoned  as  it  everywhere  was  with  something 
peculiarly  suited  to  the  prejudices  of  the  hearers.  It  was 
gathered  originally  from  what  our  friend  Hereward,  who 
was  one  of  their  inferior  officers,  called  sergeants  or  con- 
stables, had  suffered  to  transpire  of  what  he  had  heard 
the  preceding  evening.  Considering  that  the  fact  must 
be  soon  matter  of  notoriety,  he  had  no  hesitation  to  give 
his  comrades  to  understand  that  a  Norman  army  was 
coming  hither  under  Duke  Robert,  the  son  of  the  far- 
famed  William  the  Conqueror,  and  with  hostile  inten- 
tions, he  concluded,  against  them  in  particular.  Like 
all  other  men  in  peculiar  circumstances,  the  Varan- 
gians adopted  an  explanation  apphcable  to  their  own 
condition.  These  Normans,  who  hated  the  Saxon  nation, 
and  had  done  so  much  to  dishonour  and  oppress  them, 
were  now  following  them,  they  supposed,  to  the  foreign 
capital  where  they  had  found  refuge,  with  the  purpose 
of  making  war  on  the  bountiful  prince  who  protected 
their  sad  remnant.  Under  this  belief,  many  a  deep 
oath  was  sworn  in  Norse  and  Anglo-Saxon,  that  their 
keen  battle-axes  should  avenge  the  slaughter  of  Hast- 
ings, and  many  a  pledge,  both  in  wine  and  ale,  was 
quaffed,  who  should  most  deeply  resent  and  most 
effectually  revenge  the  wrongs  which  the  Anglo-Saxons 
of  England  had  received  at  the  hand  of  their  oppres- 
sors. 

Hereward,  the  author  of  this  intelHgence,  began  soon 
to  be  sorry  that  he  had  ever  suffered  it  to  escape  him,  so 
closely  was  he  cross-examined  concerning  its  precise  im- 
port, by  the  inquiries  of  his  comrades,  from  whom  he 
thought  himself  obliged  to  keep  concealed  the  adven- 

140 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

tures  of  the  preceding  evening,  and  the  place  in  which 
he  had  gained  his  information. 

About  noon,  when  he  was  effectually  tired  with  return- 
ing the  same  answer  to  the  same  questions,  and  evading 
similar  others  which  were  repeatedly  put  to  him,  the 
sound  of  trumpets  announced  the  presence  of  the  Acolyte 
Achilles  Tatius,  who  came  immediately,  it  was  indus- 
triously whispered,  from  the  sacred  interior,  with  news 
of  the  immediate  approach  of  war. 

The  Varangians  and  the  Roman  bands  called  Immor- 
tal, it  was  said,  were  to  form  a  camp  under  the  city,  in 
order  to  be  prompt  to  defend  it  at  the  shortest  notice. 
This  put  the  whole  barracks  into  commotion,  each  man 
making  the  necessary  provision  for  the  approaching 
campaign.  The  noise  was  chiefly  that  of  joyful  bustle 
and  acclamation;  and  it  was  so  general,  that  Hereward, 
whose  rank  permitted  him  to  commit  to  a  page,  or  es- 
quire, the  task  of  preparing  his  equipments,  took  the 
opportunity  to  leave  the  barracks,  in  order  to  seek  some 
distant  place  apart  from  his  comrades,  and  enjoy  his 
solitary  reflections  upon  the  singular  connexion  into 
which  he  had  been  drawn,  and  his  direct  communication 
with  the  imperial  family. 

Passing  through  the  narrow  streets,  then  deserted  on 
account  of  the  heat  of  the  sun,  he  reached  at  length  one 
of  those  broad  terraces  which,  descending,  as  it  were  by 
steps,  upon  the  margin  of  the  Bosphorus,  formed  one 
of  the  most  splendid  walks  in  the  universe,  and  still,  it 
is  believed,  preserved  as  a  public  promenade  for  the 
pleasure  of  the  Turks,  as  formerly  for  that  of  the  Chris- 
tians. These  graduated  terraces  were  planted  with  many 
trees,  among  which  the  cypress,  as  usual,  was  most 

141 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

generally  cultivated.  Here  bands  of  the  inhabitants 
were  to  be  seen  —  some  passing  to  and  fro,  with  business 
and  anxiety  in  their  faces;  some  standing  still  in  groups, 
as  if  discussing  the  strange  and  weighty  tidings  of  the 
day;  and  some,  with  the  indolent  carelessness  of  an 
Eastern  climate,  eating  their  noon-tide  refreshment  in 
the  shade,  and  spending  their  time  as  if  their  sole  object 
was  to  make  much  of  the  day  as  it  passed,  and  let  the 
cares  of  to-morrow  answer  for  themselves. 

While  the  Varangian,  afraid  of  meeting  some  acquaint- 
ance in  this  concourse,  which  would  have  been  incon- 
sistent with  the  desire  of  seclusion  which  had  brought 
him  thither,  descended  or  passed  from  one  terrace  to 
another,  all  marked  him  with  looks  of  curiosity  and  in- 
quiry, considering  him  to  be  one  who,  from  his  arms  and 
connexion  with  the  court,  must  necessarily  know  more 
than  others  concerning  the  singular  invasion  by  numer- 
ous enemies,  and  from  various  quarters,  which  was  the 
news  of  the  day.  None,  however,  had  the  hardihood  to 
address  the  soldier  of  the  guard,  though  all  looked  at  him 
with  uncommon  interest.  He  walked  from  the  lighter 
to  the  darker  alleys,  from  the  more  closed  to  the  more 
open  terraces,  without  interruption  from  any  one,  yet 
not  without  a  feeling  that  he  must  not  consider  himself 
as  alone. 

The  desire  that  he  felt  to  be  solitary  rendered  him  at 
last  somewhat  watchful,  so  that  he  became  sensible  that 
he  was  dogged  by  a  black  slave,  a  personage  not  so  un- 
frequent  in  the  streets  of  Constantinople  as  to  excite 
any  particular  notice.  His  attention,  however,  being  at 
length  fixed  on  this  individual,  he  began  to  be  desirous 
to  escape  his  observation;  and  the  change  of  place  which 

142 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

he  had  at  first  adopted  to  avoid  society  in  general  he  had 
now  recourse  to,  in  order  to  rid  himself  of  this  distant, 
though  apparently  watchful,  attendant.  Still,  however, 
though  he  by  change  of  place  had  lost  sight  of  the  negro 
for  a  few  minutes,  it  was  not  long  ere  he  again  discovered 
him,  at  a  distance  too  far  for  a  companion,  but  near 
enough  to  serve  all  the  purposes  of  a  spy.  Displeased  at 
this,  the  Varangian  turned  short  in  his  walk,  and,  choos- 
ing a  spot  where  none  was  in  sight  but  the  object  of  his 
resentment,  walked  suddenly  up  to  him,  and  demanded 
wherefore,  and  by  whose  orders,  he  presumed  to  dog  his 
footsteps.  The  negro  answered  in  a  jargon  as  bad  as  that 
in  which  he  was  addressed,  though  of  a  different  kind, 
*that  he  had  orders  to  remark  whither  he  went.* 

'Orders  from  whom?'  said  the  Varangian. 

'From  my  master  and  yours,'  answered  the  negro, 
boldly. 

'Thou  uifidel  villain!'  exclaimed  the  angry  soldier, 
'when  was  it  that  we  became  fellow-servants,  and  who 
is  it  that  thou  darest  to  call  my  master? ' 

'One  who  is  master  of  the  world,'  said  the  slave, 'since 
he  commands  his  own  passions.' 

'I  shall  scarce  command  mine,'  said  the  Varangian, 
'if  thou  repliest  to  my  earnest  questions  with  thine  af- 
fected quirks  of  philosophy.  Once  more,  what  dost  thou 
want  with  me?  and  why  hast  thou  the  boldness  to  watch 
me?' 

'  I  have  told  thee  already,'  said  the  slave, '  that  I  do  my 
master's  commands.' 

'But  I  must  know  who  thy  master  is,'  said  Here- 
ward. 

'He  must  tell  thee  that  himself,'  replied  the  negro: 

143 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*he  trusts  not  a  poor  slave  like  me  with  the  purpose  of 
the  errands  on  which  he  sends  me.' 

'He  has  left  thee  a  tongue,  however/  said  the  Varan- 
gian, 'which  some  of  thy  countrymen  would,  I  think, 
be  glad  to  possess.  Do  not  provoke  me  to  abridge  it  by 
refusing  me  the  information  which  I  have  a  right  to  de- 
mand.' 

The  black  meditated,  as  it  seemed  from  the  grin  on 
his  face,  further  evasions,  when  Hereward  cut  them  short 
by  raising  the  staff  of  his  battle-axe.  'Put  me  not,'  he 
said,  '  to  dishonour  myself  by  striking  thee  with  this 
weapon,  calculated  for  a  use  so  much  more  noble.' 

'I  may  not  do  so,  vaHant  sir,'  said  the  negro,  laying 
aside  an  impudent,  half -gibing  tone  which  he  had  hitherto 
made  use  of,  and  betrajdng  personal  fear  in  his  manner. 
*If  you  beat  the  poor  slave  to  death,  you  cannot  learn 
what  his  master  hath  forbid  him  to  tell.  A  short  walk 
will  save  your  honour  the  stain,  and  yourself  the  trouble, 
of  beating  what  cannot  resist,  and  me  the  pain  of  en- 
during what  I  can  neither  retaliate  nor  avoid.' 

'Lead  on,  then,'  said  the  Varangian.  'Be  assured  thou 
shalt  not  fool  me  by  thy  fair  words,  and  I  will  know  the 
person  who  is  impudent  enough  to  assume  the  right  of 
watching  my  motions.' 

The  black  walked  on  with  a  species  of  leer  peculiar 
to  his  physiognomy,  which  might  be  construed  as  ex- 
pressive either  of  malice  or  of  mere  humour.  The  Varan- 
gian followed  him  with  some  suspicion,  for  it  happened 
that  he  had  had  little  intercourse  with  the  unhappy  race 
of  Africa,  and  had  not  totally  overcome  the  feeling  of  sur- 
prise with  which  he  had  at  first  regarded  them  when  he 
arrived  a  stranger  from  the  North.    So  often  did  this 

144 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

man  look  back  upon  him  during  their  walk,  and  with  so 
penetrating  and  observing  a  cast  of  countenance,  that 
Hereward  felt  irresistibly  renewed  in  his  mind  the  Eng- 
lish prejudices  which  assigned  to  the  demons  the  sable 
colour  and  distorted  cast  of  visage  of  his  conductor.  The 
scene  into  which  he  was  guided  strengthened  an  associa- 
tion which  was  not  of  itself  unlikely  to  occur  to  the  ig- 
norant and  martial  islander. 

The  negro  led  the  way  from  the  splendid  terraced  walks 
which  we  have  described  to  a  path  descending  to  the 
sea-shore,  when  a  place  appeared  which,  far  from  being 
trimmed,  like  other  parts  of  the  coast,  into  walks  or 
embankments,  seemed,  on  the  contrary,  abandoned  to 
neglect,  and  was  covered  with  the  mouldering  ruins  of 
antiquity,  where  these  had  not  been  overgrown  by  the 
luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  climate.  These  fragments  of 
building,  occupying  a  sort  of  recess  of  the  bay,  were 
hidden  by  steep  banks  on  each  side,  and  although,  in  fact, 
they  formed  part  of  the  city,  yet  they  were  not  seen  from 
any  part  of  it,  and,  embosomed  in  the  manner  we  have 
described,  did  not  in  turn  command  any  view  of  the 
churches,  palaces,  towers,  and  fortifications  amongst 
which  they  lay.  The  sight  of  this  soHtary,  and  apparently 
deserted,  spot,  enciunbered  with  ruins  and  overgrown 
with  cypress  and  other  trees,  situated  as  it  was  in  the 
midst  of  a  populous  city,  had  something  in  it  impressive 
and  awful  to  the  imagination.  The  ruins  were  of  an 
ancient  date,  and  in  the  style  of  a  foreign  people.  The 
gigantic  remains  of  a  portico,  the  mutilated  fragments  of 
statues  of  great  size,  but  executed  in  a  taste  and  attitude 
so  narrow  and  barbaric  as  to  seem  perfectly  the  reverse 
of  the  Grecian,  and  the  half-defaced  hieroglyphics  which 

43  I4S 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

could  be  traced  on  some  part  of  the  decayed  sculpture, 
corroborated  the  popular  account  of  their  origin,  which 
we  shall  briefly  detail. 

According  to  tradition,  this  had  been  a  temple  dedi- 
cated to  the  Egyptian  goddess  Cybele,  built  while  the 
Roman  empire  was  yet  heathen,  and  while  Constanti- 
nople was  still  called  by  the  name  of  Byzantium.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  superstition  of  the  Egyptians  — 
vulgarly  gross  in  its  Hteral  meaning  as  well  as  in  its 
mystical  interpretation,  and  peculiarly  the  foundation 
of  many  wild  doctrines — was  disowned  by  the  principles 
of  general  toleration,  and  the  system  of  polytheism  re- 
ceived by  Rome,  and  was  excluded  by  repeated  laws 
from  the  respect  paid  by  the  empire  to  almost  every 
other  religion,  however  extravagant  or  absurd.  Never- 
theless, these  Egyptian  rites  had  charms  for  the  curious 
and  the  superstitious,  and  had,  after  long  opposition, 
obtained  a  footing  in  the  empire. 

Still,  although  tolerated,  the  Egyptian  priests  were 
rather  considered  as  sorcerers  than  as  pontiffs,  and  their 
whole  ritual  had  a  nearer  relation  to  magic,  in  popular 
estimation,  than  to  any  regular  system  of  devotion. 

Stained  with  these  accusations,  even  among  the  hea- 
then themselves,  the  worship  of  Egypt  was  held  in  more 
mortal  abhorrence  by  the  Christians  than  the  other  and 
more  rational  kinds  of  heathen  devotion  —  that  is,  if 
any  at  all  had  a  right  to  be  termed  so.  The  brutal  wor- 
ship of  Apis  and  Cybele  was  regarded  not  only  as  a  pre- 
text for  obscene  and  profligate  pleasures,  but  as  having  a 
direct  tendency  to  open  and  encourage  a  dangerous  com- 
merce with  evil  spirits,  who  were  supposed  to  take  upon 
themselves,  at  these  unhallowed  altars,  the  names  and 

146 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

characters  of  these  foul  deities.  Not  only,  therefore,  the 
temple  of  Cybele,  with  its  gigantic  portico,  its  huge  and 
inelegant  statues,  and  its  fantastic  hieroglyphics,  was 
thrown  down  and  defaced  when  the  empire  was  converted 
to  the  Christian  faith,  but  the  very  ground  on  which  it 
stood  was  considered  as  polluted  and  unhallowed ;  and 
no  emperor  having  yet  occupied  the  site  with  a  Christian 
church,  the  place  still  remained  neglected  and  deserted, 
as  we  have  described  it. 

The  Varangian  Hereward  was  perfectly  acquainted 
with  the  evil  reputation  of  the  place ;  and  when  the  negro 
seemed  disposed  to  advance  into  the  interior  of  the  ruins, 
he  hesitated,  and  addressed  his  guide  thus:  'Hark  thee, 
my  black  friend,  these  huge  fantastic  images,  some  hav- 
ing dogs'  heads,  some  cows'  heads,  and  some  no  heads 
at  all,  are  not  held  reverently  in  popular  estimation. 
Your  own  colour,  also,  my  comrade,  is  greatly  too  like 
that  of  Satan  himself  to  render  you  an  unsuspicious  com- 
panion amid  ruins  in  which  the  false  spirit,  it  is  said, 
daily  walks  his  rounds.  Midnight  and  noon  are  the 
times,  it  is  rumoured,  of  his  appearance.  I  will  go  no 
farther  with  you,  unless  you  assign  me  a  fit  reason  for 
so  doing.' 

*In  making  so  childish  a  proposal,'  said  the  negro, 
'you  take  from  me,  in  effect,  all  desire  to  guide  you  to 
my  master.  I  thought  I  spoke  to  a  man  of  invincible 
courage,  and  of  that  good  sense  upon  which  courage  is 
best  founded.  But  your  valour  only  emboldens  you  to 
beat  a  black  slave,  who  has  neither  strength  nor  title 
to  resist  you ;  and  your  courage  is  not  enough  to  enable 
you  to  look  without  trembling  on  the  dark  side  of  a  wall, 
even  when  the  sun  is  in  the  heaven.' 

147 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'    *Thou  art  insolent/  said  Hereward,  raising  his  axe. 

'And  thou  art  foolish,'  said  the  negro,  'to  attempt  to 
prove  thy  manhood  and  thy  wisdom  by  the  very  mode 
which  gives  reason  for  calling  them  both  in  question. 
I  have  already  said  there  can  be  httle  valour  in  beating 
a  wretch  like  me;  and  no  man,  surely,  who  wishes  to  dis- 
cover his  way  would  begin  by  chasing  away  his  guide.' 

*I  follow  thee,'  said  Hereward,  stung  with  the  insinu- 
ation of  cowardice;  'but  if  thou  leadest  me  into  a  snare, 
thy  free  talk  shall  not  save  thy  bones,  if  a  thousand  of 
thy  complexion  from  earth  or  hell  were  standing  ready 
to  back  thee.' 

'Thou  objectest  sorely  to  my  complexion,'  said  the 
negro ;  '  how  knowest  thou  that  it  is,  in  fact,  a  thing  to  be 
counted  and  acted  upon  as  matter  of  reaUty?  Thine  own 
eyes  daily  apprise  thee  that  the  colour  of  the  sky  nightly 
changes  from  bright  to  black,  yet  thou  knowest  that 
this  is  by  no  means  owing  to  any  habitual  colour  of  the 
heavens  themselves.  The  same  change  that  takes  place 
in  the  hue  of  the  heavens  has  existence  in  the  tinge  of  the 
deep  sea.  How  canst  thou  tell  but  what  the  difference  of 
my  colour  from  thine  own  may  be  owing  to  some  de- 
ceptious  change  of  a  similar  nature  —  not  real  in  itself, 
but  only  creating  an  apparent  reaUty? ' 

'Thou  mayst  have  painted  thyself,  no  doubt,'  an- 
swered the  Varangian,  upon  reflection,  'and  thy  black- 
ness, therefore,  may  be  only  apparent;  but  I  think  thy 
old  friend  himself  could  hardly  have  presented  these 
grinning  lips,  with  the  white  teeth  and  flattened  nose,  so 
much  to  the  life,  unless  that  peculiarity  of  Nubian  physi- 
ognomy, as  they  call  it,  had  accurately  and  really  an 
existence;  and,  to  save  thee  some  trouble,  my  dark  friend, 

148 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

I  will  tell  thee  that,  though  thou  speakest  to  an  unedu- 
cated Varangian,  I  am  not  entirely  unskilled  in  the 
Grecian  art  of  making  subtle  words  pass  upon  the  hearers 
instead  of  reason.' 

*Ay?'  said  the  negro,  doubtfully,  and  somewhat  sur- 
prised; 'and  may  the  slave  Diogenes  —  for  so  my  master 
has  christened  me  —  inquire  into  the  means  by  which 
you  reached  knowledge  so  unusual? ' 

*It  is  soon  told,'  replied  Hereward.  'My  countryman, 
Witikind,  being  a  constable  of  our  bands,  retired  from 
active  service,  and  spent  the  end  of  a  long  life  in  this 
city  of  Constantinople.  Being  past  all  toils  of  battle, 
either  those  of  reality,  as  you  word  it,  or  the  pomp  and 
fatigue  of  the  exercising  ground,  the  poor  old  man,  in 
despair  of  something  to  pass  his  time,  attended  the  lec- 
tures of  the  philosophers.' 

'And  what  did  he  learn  there?'  said  the  negro;  'for  a 
barbarian,  grown  grey  under  the  helmet,  was  not,  as 
I  think,  a  very  hopeful  student  in  our  schools.' 

'As  much  though,  I  should  think,  as  a  menial  slave, 
which  I  understand  to  be  thy  condition,'  replied  the  sol- 
dier. '  But  I  have  understood  from  him  that  the  masters 
of  this  idle  science  make  it  their  business  to  substitute, 
in  their  argumentations,  mere  words  instead  of  ideas; 
and  as  they  never  agree  upon  the  precise  meaning  of  the 
former,  their  disputes  can  never  arrive  at  a  fair  or 
settled  conclusion,  since  they  do  not  agree  in  the  language 
in  which  they  express  them.  Their  theories,  as  they  call 
them,  are  built  on  the  sand,  and  the  wind  and  tide  shall 
prevail  against  them.' 

'  Say  so  to  my  master,'  answered  the  black,  in  a  serious 
tone. 

149 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*I  will,'  said  the  Varangian;  'and  he  shall  know  me  as 
an  ignorant  soldier,  having  but  few  ideas,  and  those  only 
concerning  my  religion  and  my  military  duty.  But  out 
of  these  opinions  I  will  neither  be  beaten  by  a  battery 
of  sophisms  nor  cheated  by  the  arts  or  the  terrors  of  the 
friends  of  heathenism,  either  in  this  world  or  the  next.' 

'You  may  speak  your  mind  to  him,  then,  yourself,' 
said  Diogenes.  He  stepped  aside,  as  if  to  make  way 
for  the  Varangian,  to  whom  he  motioned  to  go  forward. 

Hereward  advanced  accordingly,  by  a  half-worn  and 
almost  imperceptible  path  leading  through  the  long 
rough  grass,  and,  turning  round  a  half-demolished  shrine, 
which  exhibited  the  remains  of  Apis,  the  bovine  deity, 
he  came  immediately  in  front  of  the  philosopher,  Age- 
lastes,  who,  sitting  among  the  ruins,  reposed  his  limbs  on 
the  grass. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Through  the  vain  webs  which  puzzle  sophists'  skill. 
Plain  sense  and  honest  meaning  work  their  way; 
So  sink  the  varying  clouds  upon  the  hill, 
When  the  dear  dawning  brightens  into  day. 

Dr.  Watis. 

The  old  man  rose  from  the  ground  with  alacrity,  as  Here- 
ward  approached.  '  My  bold  Varangian,'  he  said,  '  thou 
who  valuest  men  and  things  not  according  to  the  false 
estimate  ascribed  to  them  in  this  world,  but  to  their  real 
importance  and  actual  value,  thou  art  welcome,  what- 
ever has  brought  thee  hither  —  thou  art  welcome  to  a 
place  where  it  is  held  the  best  business  of  philosophy  to 
strip  man  of  his  borrowed  ornaments,  and  reduce  him 
to  the  just  value  of  his  own  attributes  of  body  and  mind, 
singly  considered.' 

*  You  are  a  courtier,  sir,'  said  the  Saxon,  'and,  as  a  per- 
mitted companion  of  the  Emperor's  Highness,  you  must 
be  aware  that  there  are  twenty  times  more  ceremonies 
than  such  a  man  as  I  can  be  acquainted  with  for  regu- 
lating the  different  ranks  in  society;  while  a  plain  man 
like  myself  may  be  well  excused  from  pushing  himself 
into  the  company  of  those  above  him,  where  he  does  not 
exactly  know  how  he  should  comport  himself.' 

'True,' said  the  philosopher;  'but  a  man  like  yourself, 
noble  Hereward,  merits  more  consideration  in  the  eyes 
of  a  real  philosopher  than  a  thousand  of  those  mere  in- 
sects whom  the  smiles  of  a  court  call  into  life,  and  whom 
its  frowns  reduce  to  annihilation.' 

151 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'You  are  yourself,  grave  sir,  a  follower  of  the  court,' 
said  Hereward. 

*  And  a  most  punctilious  one,'  said  Agelastes.  'There 
is  not,  I  trust,  a  subject  in  the  empire  who  knows  better 
the  ten  thousand  punctilios  exigible  from  those  of  differ- 
ent ranks,  and  due  to  different  authorities.  The  man  is 
yet  to  be  born  who  has  seen  me  take  advantage  of  any 
more  commodious  posture  than  that  of  standing  in  the 
presence  of  the  royal  family.  But  though  I  use  those 
false  scales  in  society,  and  so  far  conform  to  its  errors, 
my  real  judgment  is  of  a  more  grave  character,  and  more 
worthy  of  man,  as  said  to  be  formed  in  the  image  of  his 
Creator.' 

'There  can  be  small  occasion,'  said  the  Varangian, 
*to  exercise  your  judgment  in  any  respect  upon  me,  nor 
am  I  desirous  that  any  one  should  think  of  me  otherwise 
than  I  am  —  a  poor  exile,  namely,  who  endeavours  to 
fix  his  faith  upon  Heaven,  and  to  perform  his  duty  to 
the  world  he  lives  in,  and  to  the  prince  in  whose  service 
he  is  engaged.  And  now,  grave  sir,  permit  me  to  ask 
whether  this  meeting  is  by  your  desire,  and  for  what  is 
its  purpose?  An  African  slave,  whom  I  met  in  the  public 
walks,  and  who  calls  himself  Diogenes,  tells  me  that 
you  desired  to  speak  with  me;  he  hath  somewhat  the 
humour  of  the  old  scoffer,  and  so  he  may  have  lied.  If 
so,  I  will  even  forgive  him  the  beating  which  I  owe  his 
assurance,  and  make  my  excuse  at  the  same  time  for  hav- 
ing broken  in  upon  your  retirement,  which  I  am  totally 
unfit  to  share.' 

'Diogenes  has  not  played  you  false,'  answered  Age- 
lastes; 'he  has  his  humours,  as  you  remarked  even  now, 
and  with  these  some  qualities  also  that  put  him  upon 

152 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

a  level  with  those  of  fairer  complexion  and  better 
features.' 

'And  for  what/  said  the  Varangian,  'have  you  so  em- 
ployed him?  Can  your  wisdom  possibly  entertain  a  wish 
to  converse  with  me?' 

*I  am  an  observer  of  nature  and  of  humanity/  an- 
swered the  philosopher;  'is  it  not  natural  that  I  should 
tire  of  those  beings  who  are  formed  entirely  upon  arti- 
fice, and  long  to  see  something  more  fresh  from  the  hand 
of  nature? ' 

'You  see  not  that  in  me,'  said  the  Varangian:  'the 
rigour  of  military  discipline,  the  camp,  the  centurion,  the 
armour  frame  a  man's  sentiments  and  limbs  to  them,  as 
the  sea-crab  is  framed  to  its  shell.  See  one  of  us,  and  you 
see  us  all.' 

'Permit  me  to  doubt  that,'  said  Agelastes,  'and  to 
suppose  that,  in  Hereward,  the  son  of  WaltheofE,  I  see 
an  extraordinary  man,  although  he  himself  may  be  ig- 
norant, owing  to  his  modesty,  of  the  rarity  of  his  own 
good  qualities.' 

'The  son  of  Waltheoff!'  answered  the  Varangian, 
somewhat  startled.   '  Do  you  know  my  father's  name? ' 

'Be  not  surprised,'  answered  the  philosopher,  at  my 
possessing  so  simple  a  piece  of  information.  It  has  cost 
me  but  little  trouble  to  attain  it,  yet  I  would  gladly  hope 
that  the  labour  I  have  taken  in  that  matter  may  convince 
you  of  my  real  desire  to  call  you  friend.' 

'It  was  indeed  an  unusual  compliment,'  said  Here- 
ward, '  that  a  man  of  your  knowledge  and  station  should 
be  at  the  trouble  to  inquire  among  the  Varangian  co- 
horts concerning  the  descent  of  one  of  their  constables. 
I  scarcely  think  that  my  commander,  the  Acolyte  him- 

153 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

self,  would  think  such  knowledge  worthy  of  being  col- 
lected or  preserved.' 

'Greater  men  than  he/  said  Agelastes,  'certainly 
would  not  —  You  know  one  in  high  office  who  thinks  the 
names  of  his  most  faithful  soldiers  of  less  moment  than 
those  of  his  hunting  dogs  or  his  hawks,  and  would  will- 
ingly save  himself  the  trouble  of  calling  them  otherwise 
than  by  a  whistle.' 

*I  may  not  hear  this,'  answered  the  Varangian. 

*I  would  not  offend  you,'  said  the  philosopher,  'I 
would  not  even  shake  your  good  opinion  of  the  person 
I  allude  to;  yet  it  surprises  me  that  such  should  be  enter- 
tained by  one  of  your  great  qualities.' 

*A  truce  with  this,  grave  sir,  which  is  in  fact  trifling 
in  a  person  of  your  character  and  appearance,'  answered 
the  Anglo-Saxon.  'I  am  like  the  rocks  of  my  country: 
the  fierce  winds  cannot  shake  me,  the  soft  rains  cannot 
melt  me,  flattery  and  loud  words  are  alike  lost  upon  me.' 

'And  it  is  even  for  that  inflexibility  of  mind,'  replied 
Agelastes,  *  that  steady  contempt  of  everything  that  ap- 
proaches thee,  save  in  the  light  of  a  duty,  that  I  demand, 
almost  like  a  beggar,  that  personal  acquaintance  which 
thou  refusest  like  a  churl.' 

'Pardon  me,'  said  Hereward,  'if  I  doubt  this.  What- 
ever stories  you  may  have  picked  up  concerning  me,  not 
unexaggerated  probably- — since  the  Greeks  do  not  keep 
the  privilege  of  boasting  so  entirely  to  themselves  but  the 
Varangians  have  learned  a  little  of  it  —  you  can  have 
heard  nothing  of  me  which  can  authorise  your  using 
your  present  language,  excepting  in  jest.' 

'You  mistake,  my  son,'  said  Agelastes;  'believe  me 
not  a  person  to  mix  in  the  idle  talk  respecting  you  with 

154 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

your  comrades  at  the  ale-cup.  Such  as  I  am,  I  can  strike 
on  this  broken  image  of  Anubis  (here  he  touched  a  gi- 
gantic fragment  of  a  statue  by  his  side),  and  bid  the 
spirit  who  long  prompted  the  oracle  descend  and  once 
more  reanimate  the  trembling  mass.  We  that  are  in- 
itiated enjoy  high  privileges :  we  stamp  upon  those  ruined 
vaults,  and  the  echo  which  dwells  there  answers  to  our 
demand.  Do  not  think  that,  although  I  crave  thy 
friendship,  I  need  therefore  supplicate  thee  for  informa- 
tion either  respecting  thyself  or  others.' 

'Your  words  are  wonderful,'  said  the  Anglo-Saxon; 
*but  by  such  promising  words  I  have  heard  that  many 
souls  have  been  seduced  from  the  path  of  Heaven.  My 
grandsire,  Kenelm,  was  wont  to  say  that  the  fair  words 
of  the  heathen  philosophy  were  more  hurtful  to  the 
Christian  faith  than  the  menaces  of  the  heathen  tyrants.' 

*  I  knew  him,'  said  Agelastes.  '  What  avails  it  whether 
it  was  in  the  body  or  in  the  spirit?  He  was  converted 
from  the  faith  of  Woden  by  a  noble  monk,  and  died  a 
priest  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Augustine.'  ^ 

'True,'  said  Hereward  —  '  all  this  is  certain,  and  I  am 
the  rather  bound  to  remember  his  words  now  that  he  is 
dead  and  gone.  When  I  hardly  knew  his  meaning,  he 
bid  me  beware  of  the  doctrine  which  causeth  to  err,  which 
is  taught  by  false  prophets,  who  attest  their  doctrine  by 
unreal  miracles.' 

'This,'  said  Agelastes,  'is  mere  superstition.  Thy 
grandsire  was  a  good  and  excellent  man,  but  narrow- 
minded,  like  other  priests;  and,  deceived  by  their  ex- 
ample, he  wished  but  to  open  a  small  wicket  in  the  gate 
of  truth,  and  admit  the  world  only  on  that  limited  scale. 
*  At  Canterbury. 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Seest  thou,  Hereward,  thy  grandsire  and  most  men  of 
religion  would  fain  narrow  our  intellect  to  the  considera- 
tion of  such  parts  of  the  immaterial  world  as  are  essen- 
tial to  our  moral  guidance  here  and  our  final  salvation 
hereafter;  but  it  is  not  the  less  true  that  man  has  liberty, 
provided  he  has  wisdom  and  courage,  to  form  intimacies 
with  beings  more  powerful  than  himself,  who  can  defy 
the  bounds  of  space  by  which  he  is  circumscribed,  and 
overcome,  by  their  metaphysical  powers,  difficulties 
which,  to  the  timid  and  unlearned,  may  appear  wild  and 
impossible.' 

'You  talk  of  a  folly,'  answered  Hereward,  *at  which 
childhood  gapes  and  manhood  smiles.' 

*0n  the  contrary,'  said  the  sage,  'I  talk  of  a  longing 
wish  which  every  man  feels  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart  to 
hold  communication  with  beings  more  powerful  than 
himself,  and  who  are  not  naturally  accessible  to  our  or- 
gans. Believe  me,  Hereward,  so  ardent  and  universal  an 
aspiration  had  not  existed  in  our  bosoms  had  there  not 
also  been  means,  if  steadily  and  wisely  sought,  of  attain- 
ing its  accomplishment.  I  will  appeal  to  thine  own  heart, 
and  prove  to  thee,  even  by  a  single  word,  that  what  I 
say  is  truth.  Thy  thoughts  are  even  now  upon  a  being 
long  absent  or  dead,  and  with  the  name  of  Bertha  a 
thousand  emotions  rush  to  thy  heart,  which  in  thy  igno- 
rance thou  hadst  esteemed  furled  up  for  ever,  like  spoils 
of  the  dead  hung  above  a  tombstone !  Thou  startest  and 
changest  thy  colour:  I  joy  to  see  by  these  signs  that  the 
firmness  and  indomitable  courage  which  men  ascribe  to 
thee  have  left  the  avenues  of  the  heart  as  free  as  ever  to 
kindly  and  to  generous  affections,  while  they  have  barred 
them  against  those  of  fear,  uncertainty,  and  all  the  caitiff^ 

iS6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

tribe  of  meaner  sensations.  I  have  proffered  to  esteem 
thee,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  proving  it.  I  will  tell 
thee,  if  thou  desirest  to  know  it,  the  fate  of  that  very 
Bertha  whose  memory  thou  hast  cherished  in  thy  breast 
in  spite  of  thee,  amidst  the  toil  of  the  day  and  the  repose 
of  the  night,  in  the  battle  and  in  the  truce,  when  sport- 
ing with  thy  companions  in  fields  of  exercise,  or  attempt- 
ing to  prosecute  the  study  of  Greek  learning,  in  which, 
if  thou  wouldst  advance,  I  can  teach  it  by  a  short 
road.' 

While  Agelastes  thus  spoke,  the  Varangian  in  some 
degree  recovered  his  composure,  and  made  answer, 
though  his  voice  was  somewhat  tremulous  —  *  Who  thou 
art,  I  know  not;  what  thou  wouldst  with  me,  I  cannot 
tell;  by  what  means  thou  hast  gathered  intelligence  of 
such  consequence  to  me,  and  of  so  little  to  another,  I 
have  no  conception;  but  this  I  know,  that  by  intention 
or  accident  thou  hast  pronounced  a  name  which  agitates 
my  heart  to  its  deepest  recesses;  yet  am  I  a  Christian 
and  Varangian,  and  neither  to  my  God  nor  to  my  adopted 
prince  will  I  willingly  stagger  in  my  faith.  What  is  to  be 
wrought  by  idols  or  by  false  deities  must  be  a  treason 
to  the  real  divinity.  Nor  is  it  less  certain  that  thou  hast 
let  glance  some  arrows,  though  the  rules  of  thy  allegiance 
strictly  forbid  it,  at  the  Emperor  himself.  Henceforward, 
therefore,  I  refuse  to  communicate  with  thee,  be  it  for 
weal  or  woe.  I  am  the  Emperor's  waged  soldier,  and 
although  I  affect  not  the  nice  precisions  of  respect  and 
obedience  which  are  exacted  in  so  many  various  cases 
and  by  so  many  various  rules,  yet  I  am  his  defence,  and 
my  battle-axe  is  his  body-guard.' 

*No  one  doubts  it,'  said  the  philosopher.  *But  art  not 

157 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

thou  also  bound  to  a  nearer  dependence  upon  the  great 
Acolyte,  Achilles  Tatius? ' 

*No.  He  is  my  general,  according  to  the  rules  of  our 
service,'  answered  the  Varangian;  *to  me  he  has  always 
shown  himself  a  kind  and  good-natured  man,  and,  his 
dues  of  rank  apart,  I  may  say  has  deported  himself  as  a 
friend  rather  than  a  commander.  He  is,  however,  my 
master's  servant  as  well  as  I  am;  nor  do  I  hold  the 
difference  of  great  amount  which  the  word  of  a  man  can 
give  or  take  away  at  pleasure.' 

'It  is  nobly  spoken,'  said  Agelastes;  'and  you  yourself 
are  surely  entitled  to  stand  erect  before  one  whom  you 
supersede  in  courage  and  in  the  art  of  war.' 

'Pardon  me,'  returned  the  Briton,  'if  I  decline  the 
attributed  compliment,  as  what  in  no  respect  belongs  to 
me.  The  Emperor  chooses  his  own  officers,  in  respect  of 
their  power  of  serving  him  as  he  desires  to  be  served.  In 
this  it  is  likely  I  might  fail;  I  have  said  already  I  owe 
my  Emperor  my  obedience,  my  duty,  and  my  service, 
nor  does  it  seem  to  me  necessary  to  carry  our  explana- 
tion further.' 

'Singular  man!'  said  Agelastes;  'is  there  nothing  that 
can  move  thee  but  things  that  are  foreign  to  thyself? 
The  name  of  thy  Emperor  and  thy  commander  are  no 
spell  upon  thee,  and  even  that  of  the  object  thou  hast 
loved  — ' 

Here  the  Varangian  interrupted  him. 

*I  have  thought,'  he  said,  'upon  the  words  thou  hast 
spoken  —  thou  hast  found  the  means  to  shake  my  heart- 
strings, but  not  to  unsettle  my  principles.  I  will  hold  no 
converse  with  thee  on  a  matter  in  which  thou  canst  not 
have  interest.   Necromancers,  it  is  said,  perform  their 

158 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

spells  by  means  of  the  epithets  of  the  Holiest;  no  marvel, 
then,  should  they  use  the  names  of  the  purest  of  His 
creation  to  serve  their  unhallowed  purposes.  I  will  none 
of  such  truckling,  disgraceful  to  the  dead  perhaps  as  to 
the  living.  Whatever  has  been  thy  purpose,  old  man — 
for  think  not  thy  strange  words  have  passed  unnoticed 
—  be  thou  assured  I  bear  that  in  my  heart  which  defies 
alike  the  seduction  of  men  and  of  fiends.' 

With  this  the  soldier  turned  and  left  the  ruined  temple, 
after  a  slight  inclination  of  his  head  to  the  philosopher. 

Agelastes,  after  the  departure  of  the  soldier,  remained 
alone,  apparently  absorbed  in  meditation,  until  he  was 
suddenly  disturbed  by  the  entrance  into  the  ruins  of 
Achilles  Tatius.  The  leader  of  the  Varangians  spoke  not 
until  he  had  time  to  form  some  result  from  the  philoso- 
pher's features.  He  then  said,  'Thou  remainest,  sage 
Agelastes,  confident  in  the  purpose  of  which  we  have 
lately  spoke  together? ' 

'I  do,'  said  Agelastes,  with  gravity  and  firmness. 

'But,'  replied  Achilles  Tatius,  'thou  hast  not  gained 
to  our  side  that  proselyte  whose  coolness  and  courage 
would  serve  us  better  in  our  hour  of  need  than  the  serv- 
ice of  a  thousand  cold-hearted  slaves?' 

*I  have  not  succeeded,'  answered  the  philosopher. 

'And  thou  dost  not  blush  to  own  it?'  said  the  imperial 
officer  in  reply.  'Thou,  the  wisest  of  those  who  yet 
pretend  to  Grecian  wisdom,  the  most  powerful  of  those 
who  still  assert  the  skill  by  words,  signs,  names,  periapts, 
and  spells  to  exceed  the  sphere  to  which  thy  faculties 
belong,  hast  been  foiled  in  thy  trade  of  persuasion,  like 
an  infant  worsted  in  debate  with  its  domestic  tutor? 
Out  upon  thee,  that  thou  canst  not  sustain  in  argument 

159 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  character  which  thou  wouldst  so  fain  assume  to  thy- 
self!' 

'Peace!'  said  the  Grecian.  *I  have  as  yet  gained 
nothing,  it  is  true,  over  this  obstinate  and  inflexible 
man;  but,  Achilles  Tatius,  neither  have  I  lost.  We  both 
stand  where  yesterday  we  did,  with  this  advantage  on 
my  side,  that  I  have  suggested  to  him  such  an  object  of 
interest  as  he  shall  never  be  able  to  expel  from  his  mind, 
until  he  hath  had  recourse  to  me  to  obtain  further  knowl- 
edge concerning  it.  And  now  let  this  singular  person 
remain  for  a  time  immentioned;  yet  trust  me,  though 
flattery,  avarice,  and  ambition  may  fail  to  gain  him,  a 
bait  nevertheless  remains  that  shall  make  him  as  com- 
pletely our  own  as  any  that  is  bound  within  our  mystic 
and  inviolable  contract.  Tell  me,  then,  how  go  on  the 
affairs  of  the  empire?  Does  this  tide  of  Latin  warriors, 
so  strangely  set  aflowing,  still  rush  on  to  the  banks  of  the 
Bosphorus?  and  does  Alexius  still  entertain  hopes  to 
diminish  and  divide  the  strength  of  numbers  which  he 
could  in  vain  hope  to  defy? ' 

'Something  further  of  intelligence  has  been  gained, 
even  within  a  very  few  hours,'  answered  Achilles  Tatius. 
'Bohemond  came  to  the  city  with  some  six  or  eight  light 
horse,  and  in  a  species  of  disguise.  Considering  how  often 
he  had  been  the  Emperor's  enemy,  his  project  was  a 
perilous  one.  But  when  is  it  that  these  Franks  draw  back 
on  account  of  danger?  The  Emperor  perceived  at  once 
that  the  Count  was  come  to  see  what  he  might  obtain  by 
presenting  himself  as  the  very  first  object  of  his  liberal- 
ity, and  by  offering  his  assistance  as  mediator  with 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon  and  the  other  princes  of  the 
crusade.' 

i6o 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

*  It  is  a  species  of  policy,'  answered  the  sage,  'for  which 
he  would  receive  full  credit  from  the  Emperor.' 

Achilles  Tatius  proceeded  —  'Count  Bohemond  was 
discovered  to  the  imperial  court  as  if  it  were  by  mere 
accident,  and  he  was  welcomed  with  marks  of  favour 
and  splendour  which  had  never  been  even  mentioned  as 
being  fit  for  any  one  of  the  Frankish  race.  There  was  no 
word  of  ancient  enmity  or  of  former  wars,  no  mention  of 
Bohemond  as  the  ancient  usurper  of  Antioch,  and  the 
encroacher  upon  the  empire.  But  thanks  to  Heaven 
were  returned  on  all  sides,  which  had  sent  a  faithful 
ally  to  the  imperial  assistance  at  a  moment  of  such  immi- 
nent peril.' 

'And  what  said  Bohemond?'  inquired  the  philoso- 
pher. 

'Little  or  nothing,'  said  the  captain  of  the  Varangians, 
'until,  as  I  learned  from  the  domestic  slave  Narses,  a 
large  sum  of  gold  had  been  abandoned  to  him.  Consider- 
able districts  were  afterwards  agreed  to  be  ceded  to  him, 
and  other  advantages  granted,  on  condition  he  should 
stand  on  this  occasion  the  steady  friend  of  the  empire 
and  its  master.  Such  was  the  Emperor's  munificence 
towards  the  greedy  barbarian,  that  a  chamber  in  the 
palace  was,  by  chance,  as  it  were,  left  exposed  to  his 
view,  containing  large  quantities  of  manufactured  silks, 
of  jewellers'  work,  of  gold  and  silver,  and  other  articles 
of  great  value.  When  the  rapacious  Frank  could  not  for- 
bear some  expressions  of  admiration,  he  was  assured 
that  the  contents  of  the  treasure-chamber  were  his  own, 
provided  he  valued  them  as  showing  forth  the  warmth 
and  sincerity  of  his  imperial  ally  towards  his  friends;  and 
these  precious  articles  were  accordingly  conveyed  to  the 
A3  i6i 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

tent  of  the  Norman  leader.  By  such  measures  the 
Emperor  must  make  himself  master  of  Bohemond,  both 
body  and  soul;  for  the  Franks  themselves  say  it  is  strange 
to  see  a  man  of  undaunted  bravery  and  towering  ambi- 
tion so  infected,  nevertheless,  with  avarice,  which  they 
term  a  mean  and  unnatural  vice.' 

'Bohemond,'  said  Agelastes,  'is  then  the  Emperor's 
for  life  and  death  —  always,  that  is,  till  the  recollection 
of  the  royal  munificence  be  effaced  by  a  greater  gratuity. 
Alexius,  proud  as  he  naturally  is  of  his  management 
with  this  important  chieftain,  will  no  doubt  expect  to 
prevail  by  his  counsels  on  most  of  the  other  crusaders, 
and  even  on  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  himself,  to  take  an  oath 
of  submission  and  fidelity  to  the  Emperor,  which,  were 
it  not  for  the  sacred  nature  of  their  warfare,  the  meanest 
gentleman  among  them  would  not  submit  to,  were  it  to 
be  lord  of  a  province.  There,  then,  we  rest.  A  few  days 
must  determine  what  we  have  to  do.  An  earlier  discovery 
would  be  destruction.' 

*We  meet  not,  then,  to-night?'  said  the  Acolyte. 

*No,'  replied  the  sage;  'unless  we  are  summoned  to 
that  foolish  stage-play  or  recitation;  and  then  we  meet 
as  playthings  in  the  hand  of  a  silly  woman,  the  spoiled 
child  of  a  weak-minded  parent.' 

Tatius  then  took  his  leave  of  the  philosopher,  and,  as 
if  fearful  of  being  seen  in  each  other's  company,  they 
left  their  solitary  place  of  meeting  by  different  routes. 
The  Varangian,  Hereward,  received,  shortly  after,  a 
summons  from  his  superior,  who  acquainted  him  that  he 
should  not,  as  formerly  intimated,  require  his  attend- 
ance that  evening. 

Achilles  then  paused,  and  added  —  '  Thou  hast  some- 
162 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

thing  on  thy  lips  thou  wouldst  say  to  me,  which,  never- 
theless, hesitates  to  break  forth.' 

*It  is  only  this,'  answered  the  soldier:  *I  have  had  an 
interview  with  the  man  called  Agelastes,  and  he  seems 
something  so  different  from  what  he  appeared  when  we 
last  spoke  of  him,  that  I  cannot  forbear  mentioning  to 
you  what  I  have  seen.  He  is  not  an  insignificant  trifler, 
whose  object  it  is  to  raise  a  laugh  at  his  own  expense 
or  that  of  any  other.  He  is  a  deep-thinking  and  far- 
reaching  man,  who,  for  some  reason  or  other,  is  desir- 
ous of  forming  friends,  and  drawing  a  party  to  himself. 
Your  own  wisdom  will  teach  you  to  beware  of  him.' 

'Thou  art  an  honest  fellow,  my  poor  Hereward,'  said 
Achilles  Tatius,  with  an  affectation  of  good-natured 
contempt.  *  Such  men  as  Agelastes  do  often  frame  their 
severest  jests  in  the  shape  of  formal  gravity:  they  will 
pretend  to  possess  the  most  unbounded  power  over  ele- 
ments and  elemental  spirits,  they  will  make  themselves 
masters  of  the  names  and  anecdotes  best  known  to  those 
whom  they  make  their  sport;  and  any  one  who  shall 
listen  to  them  shall,  in  the  words  of  the  divine  Homer, 
only  expose  himself  to  a  flood  of  inextinguishable  laugh- 
ter. I  have  often  known  him  select  one  of  the  rawest  and 
most  ignorant  persons  in  presence,  and  to  him,  for  the 
amusement  of  the  rest,  he  has  pretended  to  cause  the 
absent  to  appear,  the  distant  to  draw  near,  and  the  dead 
themselves  to  burst  the  cerements  of  the  grave.  Take 
care,  Hereward,  that  his  arts  make  not  a  stain  on  the 
credit  of  one  of  my  bravest  Varangians.' 

'There  is  no  danger,'  answered  Hereward.  *I  shall  not 
be  fond  of  being  often  with  this  man.  If  he  jests  upon 
one  subject  which  he  hath  mentioned  to  me,  I  shall 

163 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

be  but  too  likely  to  teach  him  seriousness  after  a  rough 
manner.  And  if  he  is  serious  in  his  pretensions  in  such 
mystical  matters,  we  should,  according  to  the  faith  of 
my  grandfather,  Kenelm,  do  insult  to  the  deceased, 
whose  name  is  taken  in  the  mouth  of  a  soothsayer  or 
impious  enchanter.  I  will  not,  therefore,  again  go  near 
this  Agelastes,  be  he  wizard  or  be  he  impostor.' 

'You  apprehend  me  not,'  said  the  Acolyte,  hastily  — 
*you  mistake  my  meaning.  He  is  a  man  from  whom,  if 
he  pleases  to  converse  with  such  as  you,  you  may  derive 
much  knowledge,  keeping  out  of  the  reach  of  those  pre- 
tended secret  arts,  which  he  will  only  use  to  turn  thee 
into  ridicule.'  With  these  words,  which  he  himself  would 
perhaps  have  felt  it  difificult  to  reconcile,  the  leader  and 
his  follower  parted. 


CHAPTER  IX 

Between  the  foaming  jaws  of  the  white  torrent 
The  skilful  artist  draws  a  sudden  mound; 
By  level  long  he  subdivides  their  strength, 
Stealing  the  waters  from  their  rocky  bed. 
First  to  diminish  what  he  means  to  conquer; 
Then,  for  the  residue  he  forms  a  road, 
Easy  to  keep,  and  painful  to  desert. 
And  guiding  to  the  end  the  planner  aim'd  at. 

The  Engineer. 

It  would  have  been  easy  for  Alexius,  by  a  course  of 
avowed  suspicion,  or  any  false  step  in  the  manner  of 
receiving  this  tumultuary  invasion  of  the  European 
nations,  to  have  blown  into  a  flame  the  numerous  but 
smothered  grievances  under  which  they  laboured;  and  a 
similar  catastrophe  would  not  have  been  less  certain, 
had  he  at  once  abandoned  all  thoughts  of  resistance,  and 
placed  his  hope  of  safety  in  surrendering  to  the  multi- 
tudes of  the  West  whatsoever  they  accounted  worth 
taking.  The  Emperor  chose  a  middle  course;  and,  un- 
questionably, in  the  weakness  of  the  Greek  empire,  it 
was  the  only  one  which  would  have  given  him  at  once 
safety  and  a  great  degree  of  consequence  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Frank  invaders,  and  those  of  his  own  subjects.  The 
means  with  which  he  acted  were  of  various  kinds,  and, 
rather  from  policy  than  inclination,  were  often  stained 
with  falsehood  or  meanness ;  therefore  it  follows  that  the 
measures  of  the  Emperor  resembled  those  of  the  snake, 
who  twines  himself  through  the  grass,  with  the  purpose 
of  stinging  insidiously  those  whom  he  fears  to  approach 
with  the  step  of  the  bold  and  generous  lion.  We  are  not, 

165 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

however,  writing  the  history  of  the  crusades,  and  what 
we  have  already  said  of  the  Emperor's  precautions  on  the 
first  appearance  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  and  his  associ- 
ates may  suffice  for  the  elucidation  of  our  story. 

About  four  weeks  had  now  passed  over,  marked  by 
quarrels  and  reconcilements  between  the  crusaders  and 
the  Grecians  of  the  empire.  The  former  were,  as  Alexius's 
policy  dictated,  occasionally  and  individually  received 
with  extreme  honour,  and  their  leaders  loaded  with 
respect  and  favour;  while,  from  time  to  time,  such  bodies 
of  them  as  sought  distant  or  circuitous  routes  to  the 
capital  were  intercepted  and  cut  to  pieces  by  light-armed 
troops,  who  easily  passed  upon  their  ignorant  opponents 
for  Turks,  Scythians,  or  other  infidels,  and  sometimes 
were  actually  such,  but  in  the  service  of  the  Grecian 
monarch.  Often,  too,  it  happened  that,  while  the  more 
powerful  chiefs  of  the  crusade  were  feasted  by  the  Em- 
peror and  his  ministers  with  the  richest  delicacies,  and 
their  thirst  slaked  with  iced  wines,  their  followers  were 
left  at  a  distance,  where,  intentionally  suppHed  with  adul- 
terated flour,  tainted  provisions,  and  bad  water,  they 
contracted  diseases,  and  died  in  great  numbers,  without 
having  once  seen  a  foot  of  the  Holy  Land,  for  the  recov- 
ery of  which  they  had  abandoned  their  peace,  their 
competence,  and  their  native  country.  These  aggres- 
sions did  not  pass  without  complaint.  Many  of  the  cru- 
sading chiefs  impugned  the  fidelity  of  their  allies,  exposed 
the  losses  sustained  by  their  armies  as  evils  voluntarily 
inflicted  on  them  by  the  Greeks,  and  on  more  than  one 
occasion  the  two  nations  stood  opposed  to  each  other 
on  such  terms  that  a  general  war  seemed  to  be  inevit- 
able. 

i66 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Alexius,  however,  though  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
every  finesse,  still  kept  his  ground,  and  made  peace  with 
the  most  powerful  chiefs,  under  one  pretence  or  other. 
The  actual  losses  of  the  crusaders  by  the  sword  he  im- 
puted to  their  own  aggressions;  their  misguidance,  to 
accident  and  to  wilfulness;  the  effects  produced  on  them 
by  the  adulterated  provisons,  to  the  vehemence  of  their 
own  appetite  for  raw  fruits  and  unripened  wines.  In 
short,  there  was  no  disaster  of  any  kind  whatsoever 
which  could  possibly  befall  the  unhappy  pilgrims  but  the 
Emperor  stood  prepared  to  prove  that  it  was  the  natu- 
ral consequence  of  their  own  violence,  wilfulness  of  con- 
duct, or  hostile  precipitancy. 

The  chiefs,  who  were  not  ignorant  of  their  strength, 
would  not,  it  was  likely,  have  tamely  suffered  injuries 
from  a  power  so  inferior  to  their  own,  were  it  not  that 
they  had  formed  extravagant  ideas  of  the  wealth  of  the 
Eastern  empire,  which  Alexius  seemed  willing  to  share 
with  them  with  an  excess  of  bounty  as  new  to  the  leaders 
as  the  rich  productions  of  the  East  were  tempting  to  their 
followers. 

The  French  nobles  would  perhaps  have  been  the  most 
difficult  to  be  brought  into  order  when  differences  arose, 
but  an  accident,  which  the  Emperor  might  have  termed 
providential,  reduced  the  high-spirited  Count  of  Ver- 
mandois  to  the  situation  of  a  suppUant,  when  he  expected 
to  hold  that  of  a  dictator.  A  fierce  tempest  surprised  his 
fleet  after  he  set  sail  from  Italy,  and  he  was  finally 
driven  on  the  coast  of  Greece.  Many  ships  were  de- 
stroyed, and  those  troops  who  got  ashore  were  so  much 
distressed  that  they  were  obliged  to  surrender  them- 
selves to  the  lieutenants  of  Alexius.   So  that  the  Count 

167 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  Vermandois,  so  haughty  in  his  bearing  when  he  first 
embarked,  was  sent  to  the  court  of  Constantinople  not 
as  a  prince,  but  as  a  prisoner.  In  this  case,  the  Em- 
peror instantly  set  the  soldiers  at  Uberty,  and  loaded 
them  with  presents.^ 

Grateful,  therefore,  for  attentions  in  which  Alexius 
was  unremitting,  Count  Hugh  was,  by  gratitude  as  well 
as  interest,  inclined  to  join  the  opinion  of  those  who,  for 
other  reasons,  desired  the  subsistence  of  peace  betwixt 
the  crusaders  and  the  empire  of  Greece.  A  better  prin- 
ciple determined  the  celebrated  Godfrey,  Raymond  of 
Toulouse,  and  some  others,  in  whom  devotion  was 
something  more  than  a  mere  burst  of  fanaticism.  These 
princes  considered  with  what  scandal  their  whole  jour- 
ney must  be  stained,  if  the  first  of  their  exploits  should 
be  a  war  upon  the  Grecian  empire,  which  might  justly 
be  called  the  barrier  of  Christendom.  If  it  was  weak  and 
at  the  same  time  rich  —  if  at  the  same  time  it  invited 
rapine  and  was  unable  to  protect  itself  against  it  —  it 
was  the  more  their  interest  and  duty,  as  Christian  sol- 
diers, to  protect  a  Christian  state  whose  existence  was  of 
so  much  consequence  to  the  common  cause,  even  when 
it  could  not  defend  itself.  It  was  the  wish  of  these  frank- 
hearted  men  to  receive  the  Emperor's  professions  of 
friendship  with  such  sincere  returns  of  amity,  to  return 
his  kindness  with  so  much  usury,  as  to  convince  him  that 
their  purpose  towards  him  was  in  every  respect  fair  and 
honourable,  and  that  it  would  be  his  interest  to  abstain 
from  every  injurious  treatment  which  might  induce  or 
compel  them  to  alter  their  measures  towards  him. 

It  was  with  this  accommodating  spirit  towards  Alexius, 
1  See  Mills's  History  of  the  Crusades,  vol.  i,  p.  96. 
168 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

which,  for  many  different  and  complicated  reasons,  had 
now  animated  most  of  the  crusaders,  that  the  chiefs  con- 
sented to  a  measure  which,  in  other  circumstances,  they 
would  probably  have  refused,  as  undue  to  the  Greeks 
and  dishonourable  to  themselves.  This  was  the  famous 
resolution  that,  before  crossing  the  Bosphorus  to  go  in 
quest  of  that  Palestine  which  they  had  vowed  to  regain, 
each  chief  of  crusaders  would  acknowledge  individually 
the  Grecian  Emperor,  originally  lord  paramount  of  all 
these  regions,  as  their  Hege  lord  and  suzerain. 

The  Emperor  Alexius,  with  trembhng  joy,  beheld  the 
crusaders  approach  a  conclusion  to  which  he  had  hoped 
to  bribe  them  rather  by  interested  means  than  by  rea- 
soning, although  much  might  be  said  why  provinces 
reconquered  from  the  Turks  or  Saracens  should,  if  re- 
covered from  the  infidel,  become  again  a  part  of  the 
Grecian  empire,  from  which  they  had  been  rent  without 
any  pretence  save  that  of  violence. 

Though  fearful,  and  almost  despairing,  of  being  able  to 
manage  the  rude  and  discordant  army  of  haughty  chiefs, 
who  were  wholly  independent  of  each  other,  Alexius 
failed  not,  with  eagerness  and  dexterity,  to  seize  upon  the 
admission  of  Godfrey  and  his  compeers,  that  the  Emperor 
was  entitled  to  the  allegiance  of  all  who  should  war  on 
Palestine,  and  natural  lord  paramount  of  all  the  con- 
quests which  should  be  made  in  the  course  of  the  expedi- 
tion. He  was  resolved  to  make  this  ceremony  so  pubHc, 
and  to  interest  men's  minds  in  it  by  such  a  display  of 
the  imperial  pomp  and  munificence,  that  it  should  not 
either  pass  unknown  or  be  readily  forgotten. 

An  extensive  terrace,  one  of  the  numerous  spaces  which 
extend  along  the  coast  of  the  Propontis,  was  chosen  for 

169 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  site  of  the  magnificent  ceremony.  Here  was  placed 
an  elevated  and  august  throne,  calculated  for  the  use  of 
the  Emperor  alone.  On  this  occasion,  by  suffering  no  other 
seats  within  view  of  the  pageant,  the  Greeks  endeavoured 
to  secure  a  point  of  ceremony  peculiarly  dear  to  their 
vanity,  namely,  that  none  of  that  presence,  save  the  Em- 
peror himself,  should  be  seated.  Around  the  throne  of 
Alexius  Comnenus  were  placed  in  order,  but  standing, 
the  various  dignitaries  of  his  splendid  court,  in  their  dif- 
ferent ranks,  from  the  Protosebastos  and  the  Caesar  to 
the  Patriarch,  splendid  in  his  ecclesiastic  robes,  and  to 
Agelastes,  who,  in  his  simple  habit,  gave  also  the  neces- 
sary attendance.  Behind  and  around  the  splendid  display 
of  the  Emperor's  court  were  drawn  many  dark  circles  of 
the  exiled  Anglo-Saxons.  These,  by  their  own  desire, 
were  not,  on  that  memorable  day,  accoutred  in  the  silver 
corslets  which  were  the  fashion  of  an  idle  court,  but 
sheathed  in  mail  and  plate.  They  desired,  they  said,  to 
be  known  as  warriors  to  warriors.  This  was  the  more 
readily  granted,  as  there  was  no  knowing  what  trifle 
might  infringe  a  truce  between  parties  so  inflammable  as 
were  now  assembled. 

Beyond  the  Varangians,  in  much  greater  numbers, 
were  drawn  up  the  bands  of  Grecians,  or  Romans,  then 
known  by  the  title  of  Immortals,  which  had  been  bor- 
rowed by  the  Romans  originally  from  the  empire  of 
Persia.  The  stately  forms,  lofty  crests,  and  splendid 
apparel  of  these  guards  would  have  given  the  foreign 
princes  present  a  higher  idea  of  their  miHtary  prowess, 
had  there  not  occurred  in  their  ranks  a  frequent  indi- 
cation of  loquacity  and  of  motion,  forming  a  strong  con- 
trast to  the  steady  composure  and  death-like  silence 

170 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

with  which  the  well-trained  Varangians  stood  in  the 
parade,  like  statues  made  of  iron. 

The  reader  must  then  conceive  this  throne  in  all  the 
pomp  of  Oriental  greatness,  surrounded  by  the  foreign 
and  Roman  troops  of  the  empire,  and  closed  on  the  rear 
by  clouds  of  light  horse,  who  shifted  their  places  repeat- 
edly, so  as  to  convey  an  idea  of  their  multitude,  without 
affording  the  exact  means  of  estimating  it.  Through  the 
dust  which  they  raised  by  these  evolutions  might  be 
seen  banners  and  standards,  among  which  could  be 
discovered,  by  glances,  the  celebrated  Labarum,^  the 
pledge  of  conquest  to  the  imperial  banners,  but  whose 
sacred  efficacy  had  somewhat  failed  of  late  days.  The 
rude  soldiers  of  the  West,  who  viewed  the  Grecian  army, 
maintained  that  the  standards  which  were  exhibited  in 
front  of  their  Une  were  at  least  sufficient  for  the  array  of 
ten  times  the  number  of  soldiers. 

Far  on  the  right,  the  appearance  of  a  very  large  body  of 
European  cavalry  drawn  up  on  the  sea-shore  intimated 
the  presence  of  the  crusaders.  So  great  was  the  desire  to 
follow  the  example  of  the  chief  princes,  dukes,  and  counts, 
in  making  the  proposed  fealty,  that  the  number  of  inde- 
pendent knights  and  nobles  who  were  to  perform  their 
service  seemed  very  great  when  collected  together  for 
that  purpose ;  for  every  crusader  who  possessed  a  tower 
and  led  six  lances  would  have  thought  himself  abridged 
of  his  dignity  if  he  had  not  been  called  to  acknowledge 
the  Grecian  Emperor,  and  hold  the  lands  he  should  con- 
quer of  his  throne,  as  well  as  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  or 
Hugh  the  Great,  Count  of  Vermandois.  And  yet,  with 
strange  inconsistency,  though  they  pressed  to  fulfil  the 

^  See  Note  6. 
171 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

homage  as  that  which  was  paid  by  greater  persons  than 
themselves,  they  seemed,  at  the  very  same  time,  de- 
sirous to  find  some  mode  of  intimating  that  the  homage 
which  they  rendered  they  felt  as  an  idle  degradation, 
and  in  fact  held  the  whole  show  as  a  mere  piece  of 
mockery. 

The  order  of  the  procession  had  been  thus  settled :  — 
The  crusaders,  or,  as  the  Grecians  called  them,  the 
*  counts '  —  that  being  the  most  common  title  among 
them  —  were  to  advance  from  the  left  of  their  body,  and, 
passing  the  Emperor  one  by  one,  were  apprised  that,  in 
passing,  each  was  to  render  to  him,  in  as  few  words  as  pos- 
sible, the  homage  which  had  been  previously  agreed  on. 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  his  brother  Baldwin,  Bohemond  of 
Antioch,  and  several  other  crusaders  of  eminence,  were 
the  first  to  perform  the  ceremony,  ahghting  when  their 
own  part  was  performed,  and  remaining  in  attendance 
by  the  Emperor's  chair,  to  prevent,  by  the  awe  of  their 
presence,  any  of  their  numerous  associates  from  being 
guilty  of  petulance  or  presumption  during  the  solemnity. 
Others  crusaders  of  less  degree  retained  their  station 
near  the  Emperor,  when  they  had  once  gained  it,  out  of 
mere  curiosity,  or  to  show  that  they  were  as  much  at 
liberty  to  do  so  as  the  greater  commanders  who  assumed 
that  privilege. 

Thus  two  great  bodies  of  troops,  Grecian  and  Euro- 
pean, paused  at  some  distance  from  each  other  on  the 
banks  of  the  Bosphorus  canal,  differing  in  language, 
arms,  and  appearance.  The  small  troops  of  horse  which 
from  time  to  time  issued  forth  from  these  bodies  resem- 
bled the  flashes  of  hghtning  passing  from  one  thunder- 
cloud to  another,  which  communicate  to  each  other  by 

172 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

such  emissaries  their  overcharged  contents.  After  some 
halt  on  the  margin  of  the  Bosphorus,  the  Franks  who 
had  performed  homage  straggled  irregularly  forward  to 
a  quay  on  the  shore,  where  innumerable  galleys  and 
smaller  vessels,  provided  for  the  purpose,  lay  with  sails 
and  oars  prepared  to  waft  the  warlike  pilgrims  across 
the  passage,  and  place  them  on  that  Asia  which  they 
longed  so  passionately  to  visit,  and  from  which  but  few 
of  them  were  Hkely  to  return.  The  gay  appearance  of 
the  vessels  which  were  to  receive  them,  the  readiness 
with  which  they  were  supplied  with  refreshments,  the 
narrowness  of  the  strait  they  had  to  cross,  the  near  ap- 
proach of  that  active  service  which  they  had  vowed  and 
longed  to  discharge,  put  the  warriors  into  gay  spirits, 
and  songs  and  music  bore  chorus  to  the  departing 
oars. 

While  such  was  the  temper  of  the  crusaders,  the  Gre- 
cian Emperor  did  his  best  through  the  whole  ceremonial 
to  impress  on  the  armed  multitude  the  highest  ideas  of 
his  own  grandeur,  and  the  importance  of  the  occasion 
which  had  brought  them  together.  This  was  readily  ad- 
mitted by  the  higher  chiefs  —  some  because  their  vanity 
had  been  propitiated,  some  because  their  avarice  had 
been  gratified,  some  because  their  ambition  had  been  in- 
flamed, and  a  few  —  a  very  few,  because  to  remain 
friends  with  Alexius  was  the  most  probable  means  of 
advancing  the  purposes  of  their  expedition.  Accordingly, 
the  great  lords,  from  these  various  motives,  practised  a 
humility  which  perhaps  they  were  far  from  feeling,  and 
carefully  abstained  from  all  which  might  seem  Hke  ir- 
reverence at  the  solemn  festival  of  the  Grecians.  But 
there  were  very  many  of  a  different  temper. 

173 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Of  the  great  number  of  counts,  lords,  and  knights  under 
whose  variety  of  banners  the  crusaders  were  led  to  the 
walls  of  Constantinople,  many  were  too  insignificant  to 
be  bribed  to  this  distasteful  measure  of  homage;  and 
these,  though  they  felt  it  dangerous  to  oppose  resistance, 
yet  mixed  their  submission  with  taunts,  ridicule,  and  such 
contraventions  of  decorum  as  plainly  intimated  that  they 
entertained  resentment  and  scorn  at  the  step  they  were 
about  to  take,  and  esteemed  it  as  proclaiming  themselves 
vassals  to  a  prince  heretic  in  his  faith,  limited  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  boasted  power,  their  enemy  when  he  dared 
show  himself  such,  and  the  friend  of  those  only  among 
their  number  who  were  able  to  compel  him  to  be  so,  and 
who,  though  to  them  an  obsequious  ally,  was  to  the 
others,  when  occasion  offered,  an  insidious  and  murder- 
ous enemy. 

The  nobles  of  Prankish  origin  and  descent  were  chiefly 
remarkable  for  their  presumptuous  contempt  of  every 
other  nation  engaged  in  the  crusade,  as  well  as  for  their 
dauntless  bravery,  and  for  the  scorn  with  which  they 
regarded  the  power  and  authority  of  the  Greek  empire. 
It  was  a  common  saying  among  them  that,  if  the  skies 
should  fall,  the  French  crusaders  alone  were  able  to  hold 
them  up  with  their  lances.  The  same  bold  and  arrogant 
disposition  showed  itself  in  occasional  quarrels  with  their 
unwilling  hosts,  in  which  the  Greeks,  notwithstanding 
all  their  art,  were  often  worsted;  so  that  Alexius  was 
determined,  at  all  events,  to  get  rid  of  these  intractable 
and  fiery  allies,  by  ferrying  them  over  the  Bosphorus 
with  all  manner  of  diligence.  To  do  this  with  safety,  he 
availed  himself  of  the  presence  of  the  Count  of  Verman- 
dois,  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  and  other  chiefs  of  great  in- 

174 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

fluence,  to  keep  in  order  the  lesser  Frankish  knights, 
who  were  so  numerous  and  unruly.^ 

Struggling  with  his  feelings  of  offended  pride,  tempered 
by  a  prudent  degree  of  apprehension,  the  Emperor  en- 
deavoured to  receive  with  complacence  a  homage  ten- 
dered in  mockery.  An  incident  shortly  took  place  of  a 
character  highly  descriptive  of  the  nations  brought  to- 
gether in  so  extraordinary  a  manner,  and  with  such 
different  feelings  and  sentiments.  Several  bands  of 
French  had  passed,  in  a  sort  of  procession,  the  throne 
of  the  Emperor,  and  rendered,  with  some  appearance 
of  gravity,  the  usual  homage.  On  this  occasion  they  bent 
their  knees  to  Alexius,  placed  their  hands  within  his, 
and  in  that  posture  paid  the  ceremonies  of  feudal  fealty. 
But  when  it  came  to  the  turn  of  Bohemond  of  Antioch, 
already  mentioned,  to  render  this  fealty,  the  Emperor, 
desirous  to  show  every  species  of  honour  to  this  wily 
person,  his  former  enemy,  and  now  apparently  his  ally, 
advanced  two  or  three  paces  towards  the  seaside,  where 
the  boats  lay  as  if  in  readiness  for  his  use. 

The  distance  to  which  the  Emperor  moved  was  very 
small,  and  it  was  assumed  as  a  piece  of  deference  to  Bohe- 
mond; but  it  became  the  means  of  exposing  Alexius  him- 
self to  a  cutting  affront,  which  his  guards  and  subjects 
felt  deeply,  as  an  intentional  humihation.  A  half-score 
of  horsemen,  attendants  of  the  Frankish  count  who  was 
next  to  perform  the  homage,  with  their  lord  at  their 
head,  set  off  at  full  gallop  from  the  right  flank  of  the 
French  squadrons,  and  arriving  before  the  throne,  which 
was  yet  empty,  they  at  once  halted.  The  rider  at  the  head 
of  the  band  was  a  strong,  herculean  figure,  with  a  decided 

*  See  Mills,  vol.  i,  chap.  iii. 

175 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

and  stern  countenance,  though  extremely  handsome, 
looking  out  from  thick  black  curls.  His  head  was  sur- 
mounted with  a  barret  cap,  while  his  hands,  limbs,  and 
feet  were  covered  with  garments  of  chamois  leather,  over 
which  he  in  general  wore  the  ponderous  and  complete 
armour  of  his  country.  This,  however,  he  had  laid  aside 
for  personal  convenience,  though  in  doing  so  he  evinced  a 
total  neglect  of  the  ceremonial  which  marked  so  important 
a  meeting.  He  waited  not  a  moment  for  the  Emperor's 
return,  nor  regarded  the  impropriety  of  obliging  Alexius 
to  hurry  his  steps  back  to  his  throne,  but  sprung  from 
his  gigantic  horse,  and  threw  the  reins  loose,  which  were 
instantly  seized  by  one  of  the  attendant  pages.  Without 
a  moment's  hesitation,  the  Frank  seated  himself  in  the 
vacant  throne  of  the  Emperor,  and  extending  his  half- 
armed  and  robust  figure  on  the  golden  cushions  which 
were  destined  for  Alexius,  he  indolently  began  to  caress 
a  large  wolf-hound  which  had  followed  him,  and  which, 
feeling  itself  as  much  at  ease  as  its  master,  reposed  its 
grim  form  on  the  carpets  of  silk  and  gold  damask  which 
tapestried  the  imperial  footstool.  The  very  hound 
stretched  itself  with  a  bold,  ferocious  insolence,  and 
seemed  to  regard  no  one  with  respect  save  the  stern 
knight  whom  it  called  master. 

The  Emperor,  turning  back  from  the  short  space  which, 
as  a  special  mark  of  favour,  he  had  accompanied  Bohe- 
mond,  beheld  with  astonishment  his  seat  occupied 
by  this  insolent  Frank.  The  bands  of  the  half-savage 
Varangians  who  were  stationed  around  would  not  have 
hesitated  an  instant  in  avenging  the  insult,  by  pros- 
trating the  violator  of  their  master's  throne  even  in  this 
act  of  his  contempt,  had  they  not  been  restrained  by 

176 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Achilles  Tatius  and  other  officers,  who  were  uncertain 
what  the  Emperor  would  do,  and  somewhat  timorous 
of  taking  a  resolution  for  themselves. 

Meanwhile,  the  unceremonious  knight  spoke  aloud,  in 
a  speech  which,  though  provincial,  might  be  understood 
by  all  to  whom  the  French  language  was  known,  while 
even  those  who  understood  it  not  gathered  its  interpre- 
tation from  his  tone  and  manner.  'What  churl  is  this,' 
he  said,  'who  has  remained  sitting  stationary  like  a  block 
of  wood  or  the  fragment  of  a  rock,  when  so  many  noble 
knights,  the  flower  of  chivalry  and  muster  of  gallantry, 
stand  uncovered  around  among  the  thrice  conquered 
Varangians? ' 

A  deep,  clear  accent  replied,  as  if  from  the  bottom  of 
the  earth,  so  like  it  was  to  the  accents  of  some  being 
from  the  other  world  —  '  If  the  Normans  desire  battle  of 
the  Varangians,  they  will  meet  them  in  the  lists  man  to 
man,  without  the  poor  boast  of  insulting  the  Emperor 
of  Greece,  who  is  well  known  to  fight  only  by  the  battle- 
axes  of  his  guard.' 

The  astonishment  was  so  great  when  this  answer  was 
heard  as  to  affect  even  the  knight  whose  insult  upon  the 
Emperor  had  occasioned  it;  and  amid  the  efforts  of 
Achilles  to  retain  his  soldiers  within  the  bounds  of  sub- 
ordination and  silence,  a  loud  murmur  seemed  to  inti- 
mate that  they  would  not  long  remain  so.  Bohemond 
returned  through  the  press  with  a  celerity  which  did  not 
so  well  suit  the  dignity  of  Alexius,  and  catching  the  cru- 
sader by  the  arm,  he,  something  between  fair  means 
and  a  gentle  degree  of  force,  obliged  him  to  leave  the 
chair  of  the  Emperor,  in  which  he  had  placed  himself 
so  boldly. 

43  177 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'How  is  it,' said  Bohemond,  'noble  Count  of  Paris? 
Is  there  one  of  this  great  assembly  who  can  see  with 
patience  that  your  name,  so  widely  renowned  for  valour, 
is  now  to  be  quoted  in  an  idle  brawl  with  hirelings,  whose 
utmost  boast  it  is  to  bear  a  mercenary  battle-axe  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Emperor's  guards?  For  shame  —  for  shame ; 
do  not,  for  the  discredit  of  Norman  chivalry,  let  it  be  so ! ' 

*I  know  not,'  said  the  crusader,  rising  reluctantly. 
*  I  am  not  nice  in  choosing  the  degree  of  my  adversary, 
when  he  bears  himself  like  one  who  is  willing  and  for- 
ward in  battle.  I  am  good-natured,  I  tell  thee,  Count 
Bohemond;  and  Turk  or  Tartar,  or  wandering  Anglo- 
Saxon,  who  only  escapes  from  the  chain  of  the  Normans 
to  become  the  slave  of  the  Greek,  is  equally  welcome  to 
whet  his  blade  clean  against  my  armour,  if  he  desires  to 
achieve  such  an  honourable  office.' 

The  Emperor  had  heard  what  passed  —  had  heard  it 
with  indignation,  mixed  with  fear;  for  he  imagined  the 
whole  scheme  of  his  poHcy  was  about  to  be  overturned 
at  once  by  a  premeditated  plan  of  personal  affront,  and 
probably  an  assault  upon  his  person.  He  was  about  to 
call  to  arms,  when,  casting  his  eyes  on  the  right  flank 
of  the  crusaders,  he  saw  that  all  remained  quiet  after  the 
Frank  baron  had  transferred  himself  from  thence.  He 
therefore  instantly  resolved  to  let  the  insult  pass,  as  one 
of  the  rough  pleasantries  of  the  Franks,  since  the  ad- 
vance of  more  troops  did  not  give  any  symptom  of  an 
actual  onset. 

Resolving  on  his  line  of  conduct  with  the  quickness  of 
thought,  he  glided  back  to  his  canopy  and  stood  beside 
his  throne,  of  which,  however,  he  chose  not  instantly 
to  take  possession,  lest  he  should  give  the  insolent 

178 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

stranger  some  ground  for  renewing  and  persisting  in  a 
competition  for  it. 

'What  bold  vavasour  is  this,'  said  he  to  Count  Bald- 
win, 'whom,  as  is  apparent  from  his  dignity,  I  ought  to 
have  received  upon  my  throne,  and  who  thinks  proper 
thus  to  vindicate  his  rank?' 

'He  is  reckoned  one  of  the  bravest  men  in  our  host,' 
answered  Baldwin, '  though  the  brave  are  as  numerous 
there  as  the  sands  of  the  sea.  He  will  himself  tell  you  his 
name  and  rank.' 

Alexius  looked  at  the  vavasour.  He  saw  nothing  in 
his  large,  well-formed  features,  lighted  by  a  wild  touch 
of  enthusiasm  which  spoke  in  his  quick  eye,  that  inti- 
mated premeditated  insult,  and  was  induced  to  suppose 
that  what  had  occurred,  so  contrary  to  the  form  and 
ceremonial  of  the  Grecian  court,  was  neither  an  inten- 
tional affront  nor  designed  as  the  means  of  introducing 
a  quarrel.  He  therefore  spoke  with  comparative  ease 
when  he  addressed  the  stranger  thus  —  'We  know  not 
by  what  dignified  name  to  salute  you;  but  we  are  aware, 
from  Count  Baldwin's  information,  that  we  are  honoured 
in  having  in  our  presence  one  of  the  bravest  knights  whom 
a  sense  of  the  wrongs  done  to  the  Holy  Land  has  brought 
thus  far  on  his  way  to  Palestine,  to  free  it  from  its  bond- 
age.' 

'If  you  mean  to  ask  my  name,'  answered  the  Euro- 
pean knight,  'any  one  of  these  pilgrims  can  readily  sat- 
isfy you,  and  more  gracefully  than  I  can  myself,  since  we 
use  to  say  in  our  country  that  many  a  fierce  quarrel  is 
prevented  from  being  fought  out  by  an  untimely  dis- 
closure of  names,  when  men,  who  might  have  fought 
with  the  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes,  must,  when  their 

179 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

names  are  manifested,  recognise  each  other  as  spiritual 
allies,  by  baptism,  gossipred,  or  some  such  irresistible 
bond  of  friendship;  whereas,  had  they  fought  first,  and 
told  their  names  afterwards,  they  could  have  had  some 
assurance  of  each  other's  valour,  and  have  been  able  to 
view  their  relationship  as  an  honour  to  both.' 

'Still,'  said  the  Emperor,  'methinks  I  would  know  if 
you,  who,  in  this  extraordinary  press  of  knights,  seem  to 
assert  a  precedence  to  yourself,  claim  the  dignity  due 
to  a  king  or  prince?' 

'  How  speak  you  that? '  said  the  Frank,  with  a  brow 
somewhat  overclouded;  'do  you  feel  that  I  have  not  left 
you  un jostled  by  my  advance  to  these  squadrons  of 
yours? ' 

Alexius  hastened  to  answer,  that  he  felt  no  particular 
desire  to  connect  the  count  with  an  affront  or  offence; 
observing  that,  in  the  extreme  necessity  of  the  empire, 
it  was  no  time  for  him,  who  was  at  the  helm,  to  engage 
in  idle  or  unnecessary  quarrels. 

The  Frankish  knight  heard  him,  and  answered  drily  — 
'  Since  such  are  your  sentiments,  I  wonder  that  you  have 
ever  resided  long  enough  within  the  hearing  of  the  French 
language  to  learn  to  speak  it  as  you  do.  I  would  have 
thought  some  of  the  sentiments  of  the  chivalry  of  the 
nation,  since  you  are  neither  a  monk  nor  a  woman, 
would,  at  the  same  time  with  the  words  of  the  dialect, 
have  found  their  way  into  your  heart.' 

'Hush,  sir  count,'  said  Bohemond,  who  remained  by 
the  Emperor  to  avert  the  threatening  quarrel.  'It  is 
surely  requisite  to  answer  the  Emperor  with  civility; 
and  those  who  are  impatient  for  warfare  will  have  in- 
fidels enough  to  wage  it  with.   He  only  demanded  your 

1 80 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

name  and  lineage,  which  you  of  all  men  can  have  least 
objection  to  disclose.' 

'  I  know  not  if  it  will  interest  this  prince,  or  emperor, 
as  you  term  him,'  answered  the  Frank  count;  'but  all 
the  account  I  can  give  of  myself  is  this:  In  the  midst  of 
one  of  the  vast  forests  which  occupy  the  centre  of  France, 
my  native  country,  there  stands  a  chapel,  sunk  so  low 
into  the  ground  that  it  seems  as  if  it  were  become  de- 
crepid  by  its  own  great  age.  The  image  of  the  Holy 
Virgin  who  presides  over  its  altar  is  called  by  all  men  Our 
Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances,  and  is  accounted  through 
the  whole  kingdom  the  most  celebrated  for  miHtary  ad- 
ventures. Four  beaten  roads,  each  leading  from  an  op- 
posite point  in  the  compass,  meet  before  the  principal 
door  of  the  chapel;  and  ever  and  anon,  as  a  good  knight 
arrives  at  this  place,  he  passes  in  to  the  performance  of 
his  devotions  in  the  chapel,  having  first  sounded  his  horn 
three  times,  till  ash  and  oak-tree  quiver  and  ring.  Hav- 
ing then  kneeled  down  to  his  devotions,  he  seldom  arises 
from  the  mass  of  Her  of  the  Broken  Lances  but  there  is 
attending  on  his  leisure  some  adventurous  knight  ready 
to  satisfy  the  new-comer's  desire  of  battle.  This  station 
have  I  held  for  a  month  and  more  against  all  comers, 
and  all  gave  me  fair  thanks  for  the  knightly  manner  of 
quitting  myself  towards  them,  except  one,  who  had 
the  evil  hap  to  fall  from  his  horse,  and  did  break  his 
neck;  and  another,  who  was  struck  through  the  body,  so 
that  the  lance  came  out  behind  his  back  about  a  cloth- 
yard,  all  dripping  with  blood.  Allowing  for  such  acci- 
dents, which  cannot  easily  be  avoided,  my  opponents 
parted  with  me  with  fair  acknowledgment  of  the  grace 
I  had  done  them.' 

i8i 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*I  conceive,  sir  knight/  said  the  Emperor,  'that  a 
form  like  yours,  animated  by  the  courage  you  display, 
is  likely  to  find  few  equals  even  among  your  adventur- 
ous countrymen;  far  less  among  men  who  are  taught 
that  to  cast  away  their  lives  in  a  senseless  quarrel  among 
themselves  is  to  throw  away,  like  a  boy,  the  gift  of  Provi- 
dence.' 

'You  are  welcome  to  your  opinion,'  said  the  Frank, 
somewhat  contemptuously;  'yet  I  assure  you,  if  you 
doubt  that  our  gallant  strife  was  unmixed  with  sullen- 
ness  and  anger,  and  that  we  hunt  not  the  hart  or  the  boar 
with  merrier  hearts  in  the  evening  than  we  discharge 
our  task  of  chivalry  by  the  morn  had  arisen,  before  the 
portal  of  the  old  chapel,  you  do  us  foul  injustice.' 

'With  the  Turks  you  will  not  enjoy  this  amiable  ex- 
change of  courtesies,'  answered  Alexius.  'Wherefore  I 
would  advise  you  neither  to  stray  far  into  the  van  nor 
into  the  rear,  but  to  abide  by  the  standard,  where  the 
best  infidels  make  their  efforts,  and  the  best  knights  are 
required  to  repel  them.' 

'  By  Our  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances,'  said  the  crusader, 
'  I  would  not  that  the  Turks  were  more  courteous  than 
they  are  Christian,  and  am  well  pleased  that  unbeHever 
and  heathen  hound  are  a  proper  description  for  the  best 
of  them,  as  being  traitor  alike  to  their  God  and  to  the  laws 
of  chivalry;  and  devoutly  do  I  trust  that  I  shall  meet 
with  them  in  the  front  rank  of  our  army,  beside  our  stand- 
ard, or  elsewhere,  and  have  an  open  field  to  do  my  devoir 
against  them,  both  as  the  enemies  of  Our  Lady  and  the 
holy  saints  and  as,  by  their  evil  customs,  more  expressly 
my  own.  Meanwhile,  you  have  time  to  seat  yourself 
and  receive  my  homage,  and  I  will  be  bound  to  you  for 

182 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

despatching  this  foolish  ceremony  with  as  little  waste 
and  delay  of  time  as  the  occasion  will  permit.' 

The  Emperor  hastily  seated  himself,  and  received  into 
his  the  sinewy  hands  of  the  crusader,  who  made  the 
acknowledgment  of  his  homage,  and  was  then  guided 
off  by  Count  Baldwin,  who  walked  with  the  stranger  to 
the  ships,  and  then,  apparently  well  pleased  at  seeing 
him  in  the  course  of  going  on  board,  returned  back  to 
the  side  of  the  Emperor. 

'What  is  the  name,'  said  the  Emperor,  'of  that  singular 
and  assuming  man? ' 

*It  is  Robert  Count  of  Paris,'  answered  Baldwin,  'ac- 
counted one  of  the  bravest  peers  who  stand  around  the 
throne  of  France.' 

After  a  moment's  recollection,  Alexius  Comnenus  is- 
sued orders  that  the  ceremonial  of  the  day  should  be 
discontinued,  afraid,  perhaps,  lest  the  rough  and  careless 
humour  of  the  strangers  should  produce  some  new  quar- 
rel. The  crusaders  were  led,  nothing  loth,  back  to  palaces 
in  which  they  had  already  been  hospitably  received,  and 
readily  resumed  the  interrupted  feast  from  which  they 
had  been  called  to  pay  their  homage.  The  trumpets  of 
the  various  leaders  blew  the  recall  of  the  few  troops  of 
an  ordinary  character  who  were  attendant,  together  with 
the  host  of  knights  and  leaders,  who,  pleased  with  the 
indulgences  provided  for  them,  and  obscurely  foreseeing 
that  the  passage  of  the  Bosphorus  would  be  the  com- 
mencement of  their  actual  suffering,  rejoiced  in  being 
called  to  the  hither  side. 

It  was  not  probably  intended,  but  the  hero,  as  he 
might  be  styled,  of  the  tumultuous  day,  Count  Robert 
of  Paris,  who  was  already  on  his  road  to  embarkation  on 

183 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  strait,  was  disturbed  in  his  purpose  by  the  sound  of 
recall  which  was  echoed  around;  nor  could  Bohemond, 
Godfrey,  or  any  who  took  upon  him  to  explain  the  sig- 
nal, alter  his  resolution  of  returning  to  Constantinople. 
He  laughed  to  scorn  the  threatened  displeasure  of  the 
Emperor,  and  seemed  to  think  there  would  be  a  pecu- 
liar pleasure  in  braving  Alexius  at  his  own  board,  or, 
at  least,  that  nothing  could  be  more  indifferent  than 
whether  he  gave  offence  or  not. 

To  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  to  whom  he  showed  some  re- 
spect, he  was  still  far  from  paying  deference;  and  that 
sagacious  prince,  having  used  every  argument  which 
might  shake  his  purpose  of  returning  to  the  imperial 
city,  to  the  very  point  of  making  it  a  quarrel  with  him 
in  person,  at  length  abandoned  him  to  his  own  discretion, 
and  pointed  him  out  to  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  as  he 
passed,  as  a  wild  knight-errant,  incapable  of  being  in- 
fluenced by  anything  save  his  own  wajn^^ard  fancy. 
*He  brings  not  five  hundred  men  to  the  crusade,'  said 
Godfrey;  *and  I  dare  be  sworn,  that  even  in  this,  the 
very  outset  of  the  undertaking,  he  knows  not  where  these 
five  hundred  men  are,  and  how  their  wants  are  pro- 
vided for.  There  is  an  eternal  trumpet  in  his  ear  sounding 
to  assault,  nor  has  he  room  or  time  to  hear  a  milder  or 
more  rational  signal.  See  how  he  strolls  along  yonder, 
the  very  emblem  of  an  idle  school-boy,  broke  out  of  the 
school-bounds  upon  a  holyday,  half  animated  by  curi- 
osity and  half  by  love  of  mischief.' 

'And,'  said  Raymond  Count  of  Toulouse,  'with  reso- 
lution sufficient  to  support  the  desperate  purpose  of  the 
whole  army  of  devoted  crusaders.  And  yet  so  passionate 
a  Rodomont  is  Count  Robert,  that  he  would  rather  risk 

184 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  success  of  the  whole  expedition  than  omit  an  oppor- 
tunity of  meeting  a  worthy  antagonist  en  champ  clos,  or 
lose,  as  he  terms  it,  a  chance  of  worshipping  Our  Lady  of 
the  Broken  Lances.  Who  are  yon  with  whom  he  has  now 
met,  and  who  are  apparently  walking,  or  rather  strolling, 
in  the  same  way  with  him,  back  to  Constantinople?' 

'An  armed  knight,  briUiantly  equipped,  yet  of  some- 
thing less  than  knightly  stature,'  answered  Godfrey.  *  It 
is,  I  suppose,  the  celebrated  lady  who  won  Robert's 
heart  in  the  lists  of  battle,  by  bravery  and  valour  equal 
to  his  own ;  and  the  pilgrim  form  in  the  long  vestments 
may  be  their  daughter  or  niece.' 

'A  singular  spectacle,  worthy  knight,'  said  the  Count 
of  Toulouse, '  do  our  days  present  to  us,  to  which  we  have 
had  nothing  similar  since  Gaita,^  wife  of  Robert  Guis- 
card,  first  took  upon  her  to  distinguish  herself  by  manly 
deeds  of  emprise,  and  rival  her  husband,  as  well  in  the 
front  of  battle  as  at  the  dancing-room  or  banquet.' 

'Such  is  the  custom  of  this  pair,  most  noble  knight,' 
answered  another  crusader,  who  had  joined  them,  'and 
Heaven  pity  the  poor  man  who  has  no  power  to  keep 
domestic  peace  by  an  appeal  to  the  stronger  hand ! ' 

'Well,'  replied  Raymond,  'if  it  be  rather  a  mortifying 
reflection  that  the  lady  of  our  love  is  far  past  the  bloom 
of  youth,  it  is  a  consolation  that  she  is  too  old-fashioned 
to  beat  us,  when  we  return  back  with  no  more  of  youth 
or  manhood  than  a  long  crusade  has  left.  But  come, 
follow  on  the  road  to  Constantinople,  and  in  the  rear  of 
this  most  doughty  knight.' 

1  See  Note  7. 


CHAPTER  X 


These  were  wild  times  —  the  antipodes  of  ours: 
Ladies  were  there,  who  oftener  saw  themselves 
In  the  broad  lustre  of  a  foeman's  shield 
Than  in  a  mirror,  and  who  rather  sought 
To  match  themselves  in  battle  than  in  dalliance 
To  meet  a  lover's  onset.    But  though  Nature 
Was  outraged  thus,  she  was  not  overcome. 

Feudal  Times. 


Brenhilda,  Countess  of  Paris,  was  one  of  those  stal- 
wart dames  who  willingly  hazarded  themselves  in  the 
front  of  battle,  which,  during  the  first  crusade,  was  as 
common  as  it  was  possible  for  a  very  unnatural  custom 
to  be,  and,  in  fact,  gave  the  real  instances  of  the  Marphi- 
sas  and  Bradamantes,  whom  the  writers  of  romance 
delighted  to  paint,  assigning  them  sometimes  the  ad- 
vantage of  invulnerable  armour,  or  a  spear  whose  thrust 
did  not  admit  of  being  resisted,  in  order  to  soften  the 
improbability  of  the  weaker  sex  being  frequently  vic- 
torious over  the  male  part  of  the  creation. 

But  the  spell  of  Brenhilda  was  of  a  more  simple  nature, 
and  rested  chiefly  in  her  great  beauty. 

From  a  girl,  she  despised  the  pursuits  of  her  sex;  and 
they  who  ventured  to  become  suitors  for  the  hand  of  the 
young  Lady  of  Aspramonte,  to  which  warhke  fief  she 
had  succeeded,  and  which  perhaps  encouraged  her  in  her 
fancy,  received  for  answer,  that  they  must  first  merit  it 
by  their  good  behaviour  in  the  lists.  The  father  of  Bren- 
hilda was  dead;  her  mother  was  of  a  gentle  temper,  and 
easily  kept  under  management  by  the  young  lady  her- 
self. 

i86 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Brenhilda's  numerous  suitors  readily  agreed  to  terms 
which  were  too  much  according  to  the  manners  of  the 
age  to  be  disputed.  A  tournament  was  held  at  the 
Castle  of  Aspramonte,  in  which  one  half  of  the  gallant 
assembly  rolled  headlong  before  their  successful  rivals, 
and  withdrew  from  the  lists  mortified  and  disappointed. 
The  successful  party  among  the  suitors  were  expected 
to  be  summoned  to  joust  among  themselves.  But  they 
were  surprised  at  being  made  acquainted  with  the  lady's 
further  will.  She  aspired  to  wear  armour  herself,  to 
wield  a  lance,  and  back  a  steed,  and  prayed  the  knights 
that  they  would  permit  a  lady,  whom  they  professed  to 
honour  so  highly,  to  mingle  in  their  games  of  chivalry. 
The  young  knights  courteously  received  their  young 
mistress  in  the  hsts,  and  smiled  at  the  idea  of  her  hold- 
ing them  triumphantly  against  so  many  gallant  cham- 
pions of  the  other  sex.  But  the  vassals  and  old  serv- 
ants of  the  count,  her  father,  smiled  to  each  other,  and 
intimated  a  different  result  than  the  gallants  anticipated. 
The  knights  who  encountered  the  fair  Brenhilda  were 
one  by  one  stretched  on  the  sand ;  nor  was  it  to  be  denied 
that  the  situation  of  tilting  with  one  of  the  handsomest 
women  of  the  time  was  an  extremely  embarrassing  one. 
Each  youth  was  bent  to  withhold  his  charge  in  full  volley, 
to  cause  his  steed  to  swerve  at  the  full  shock,  or  in  some 
other  way  to  flinch  from  doing  the  utmost  which  was 
necessary  to  gain  the  victory,  lest,  in  so  gaining  it,  he 
might  cause  irreparable  injury  to  the  beautiful  oppo- 
nent he  tilted  with.  But  the  Lady  of  Aspramonte  was 
not  one  who  could  be  conquered  by  less  than  the  exertion 
of  the  whole  strength  and  talents  of  the  victor.  The 
defeated  suitors  departed  from  the  lists  the  more  morti- 

\^  187 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

fied  at  their  discomfiture,  because  Robert  of  Paris  arrived 
at  sunset,  and,  understanding  what  was  going  forward, 
sent  his  name  to  the  barriers,  as  that  of  a  knight  who 
would  willingly  forego  the  reward  of  the  tournament,  in 
case  he  had  the  fortune  to  gain  it,  declaring,  that  neither 
lands  nor  ladies'  charms  were  what  he  came  thither  to 
seek.  Brenhilda,  piqued  and  mortified,  chose  a  new 
lance,  mounted  her  best  steed,  and  advanced  into  the  hsts 
as  one  determined  to  avenge  upon  the  new  assailant's 
brow  the  slight  of  her  charms  which  he  seemed  to  express. 
But  whether  her  displeasure  had  somewhat  interfered 
with  her  usual  skill,  or  whether  she  had,  like  others  of  her 
sex,  felt  a  partiality  towards  one  whose  heart  was  not 
particularly  set  upon  gaining  hers,  or  whether,  as  is  often 
said  on  such  occasions,  her  fated  hour  was  come,  so  it 
was  that  Count  Robert  tilted  with  his  usual  address  and 
good  fortune.  Brenhilda  of  Aspramonte  was  unhorsed 
and  unhelmed,  and  stretched  on  the  earth,  and  the  beau- 
tiful face,  which  faded  from  very  red  to  deadly  pale  before 
the  eyes  of  the  victor,  produced  its  natural  effect  in  rais- 
ing the  value  of  his  conquest.  He  would,  in  conformity 
with  his  resolution,  have  left  the  castle,  after  having 
mortified  the  vanity  of  the  lady;  but  her  mother  oppor- 
tunely interposed,  and,  when  she  had  satisfied  herself 
that  no  serious  injury  had  been  sustained  by  the  young 
heiress,  she  returned  her  thanks  to  the  stranger  knight 
who  had  taught  her  daughter  a  lesson,  which,  she  trusted, 
she  would  not  easily  forget.  Thus  tempted  to  do  what  he 
secretly  wished,  Count  Robert  gave  ear  to  those  senti- 
ments which  naturally  whispered  to  him  to  be  in  no 
hurry  to  withdraw. 
He  was  of  the  blood  of  Charlemagne,  and,  what  was 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

still  of  more  consequence  in  the  young  lady's  eyes,  one 
of  the  most  renowned  of  Norman  knights  in  that  joust- 
ing day.  After  a  residence  of  ten  days  in  the  Castle  of 
Aspramonte,  the  bride  and  bridegroom  set  out,  for  such 
was  Count  Robert's  will,  with  a  competent  train,  to  Our 
Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances,  where  it  pleased  him  to  be 
wedded.  Two  knights,  who  were  waiting  to  do  battle, 
as  was  the  custom  of  the  place,  were  rather  disappointed 
at  the  nature  of  the  cavalcade,  which  seemed  to  inter- 
rupt their  purpose.  But  greatly  were  they  surprised 
when  they  received  a  cartel  from  the  betrothed  couple, 
offering  to  substitute  their  own  persons  in  the  room 
of  other  antagonists,  and  congratulating  themselves  in 
commencing  their  married  Ufe  in  a  manner  so  con- 
sistent with  that  which  they  had  hitherto  led.  They 
were  victorious  as  usual ;  and  the  only  persons  having 
occasion  to  rue  the  complaisance  of  the  Count  and  his 
bride  were  the  two  strangers,  one  of  whom  broke  an 
arm  in  the  rencontre  and  the  other  dislocated  a  collar- 
bone. 

Count  Robert's  course  of  knight-errantry  did  not 
seem  to  be  in  the  least  intermitted  by  his  marriage;  on 
the  contrary,  when  he  was  called  upon  to  support  his 
renown,  his  wife  was  often  known  also  in  mihtary  ex- 
ploits, nor  was  she  inferior  to  him  in  thirst  after  fame. 
They  both  assumed  the  cross  at  the  same  time,  that 
being  then  the  predominating  folly  in  Europe. 

The  Countess  Brenhilda  was  now  above  six-and- 
twenty  years  old,  with  as  much  beauty  as  can  well  fall 
to  the  share  of  an  amazon.  A  figure  of  the  largest  femi- 
nine size  was  surmounted  by  a  noble  countenance,  to 
which  even  repeated  warlike  toils  had  not  given  more 

189 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

than  a  sunny  hue,  relieved  by  the  dazzling  whiteness 
of  such  parts  of  her  face  as  were  not  usually  dis- 
played. 

As  Alexius  gave  orders  that  his  retinue  should  return 
to  Constantinople,  he  spoke  in  private  to  the  Follower, 
Achilles  Tatius.  The  satrap  answered  with  a  submissive 
bend  of  the  head,  and  separated  with  a  few  attendants 
from  the  main  body  of  the  Emperor's  train.  The  princi- 
pal road  to  the  city  was,  of  course,  filled  with  the  troops, 
and  with  the  numerous  crowds  of  spectators,  all  of 
whom  were  inconvenienced  in  some  degree  by  the  dust 
and  heat  of  the  weather. 

Count  Robert  of  Paris  had  embarked  his  horses  on 
board  of  ship,  and  all  his  retinue,  except  an  old  squire 
or  valet  of  his  own  and  an  attendant  of  his  wife.  He  felt 
himself  more  incommoded  in  this  crowd  than  he  desired, 
especially  as  his  wife  shared  it  with  him,  and  began  to 
look  among  the  scattered  trees  which  fringed  the  shores 
down  almost  to  the  tide-mark,  to  see  if  he  could  discern 
any  bye-path  which  might  carry  them  more  circuitously, 
but  more  pleasantly,  to  the  city,  and  afford  them  at  the 
same  time,  what  was  their  principal  object  in  the  East, 
strange  sights  or  adventures  of  chivalry.  A  broad  and 
beaten  path  seemed  to  promise  them  all  the  enjoyment 
which  shade  could  give  in  a  warm  climate.  The  ground 
through  which  it  wound  its  way  was  beautifully  broken 
by  the  appearance  of  temples,  churches,  and  kiosks,  and 
here  and  there  a  fountain  distributed  its  silver  produce, 
like  a  benevolent  individual,  who,  self-denying  to  him- 
self, is  Hberal  to  all  others  who  are  in  necessity.  The  dis- 
tant sound  of  the  martial  music  still  regaled  their  way; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  as  it  detained  the  populace  on  the 

190 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

highroad,  prevented  the  strangers  from  becoming  incom- 
moded with  fellow-travellers. 

Rejoicing  in  the  abated  heat  of  the  day,  wondering, 
at  the  same  time,  at  the  various  kinds  of  architecture,  the 
strange  features  of  the  landscape,  or  accidental  touches 
of  manners  exhibited  by  those  who  met  or  passed  them 
upon  their  journey,  they  strolled  easily  onwards.  One 
figure  particularly  caught  the  attention  of  the  Countess 
Brenhilda.  This  was  an  old  man  of  great  stature,  en- 
gaged, apparently,  so  deeply  with  the  roll  of  parchment 
which  he  held  in  his  hand,  that  he  paid  no  attention 
to  the  objects  which  were  passing  around  him.  Deep 
thought  appeared  to  reign  on  his  brow,  and  his  eye  was 
of  that  piercing  kind  which  seems  designed  to  search  and 
winnow  the  frivolous  from  the  edifying  part  of  human 
discussion,  and  limit  its  inquiry  to  the  last.  Raising  his 
eyes  slowly  from  the  parchment  on  which  he  had  been 
gazing,  the  look  of  Agelastes  —  for  it  was  the  sage  him- 
self —  encountered  those  of  Count  Robert  and  his  lady, 
and  addressing  them  with  the  kindly  epithet  of  *my 
children,'  he  asked  if  they  had  missed  their  road,  or 
whether  there  was  anything  in  which  he  could  do  them 
any  pleasure. 

*We  are  strangers,  father,'  was  the  answer,  'from  a 
distant  country,  and  belonging  to  the  army  which  has 
passed  hither  upon  pilgrimage;  one  object  brings  us  here 
in  common,  we  hope,  with  all  that  host.  We  desire  to 
pay  our  devotions  where  the  great  ransom  was  paid  for 
us,  and  to  free,  by  our  good  swords,  enslaved  Palestine 
from  the  usurpation  and  tyranny  of  the  infidel.  When 
we  have  said  this,  we  have  announced  our  highest  human 
motive.  Yet  Robert  of  Paris  and  his  Countess  would 

191 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

not  willingly  set  their  foot  on  a  land  save  what  should 
resound  its  echo.  They  have  not  been  accustomed  to 
move  in  silence  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  they 
would  purchase  an  eternal  life  of  fame,  though  it  were 
at  the  price  of  mortal  existence.' 

'You  seek,  then,  to  barter  safety  for  fame,'  said 
Agelastes,  'though  you  may,  perchance,  throw  death 
into  the  scale  by  which  you  hope  to  gain  it? ' 

'Assuredly,'  said  Count  Robert;  'nor  is  there  one 
wearing  such  a  belt  as  this  to  whom  such  a  thought  is 
stranger.' 

'And,  as  I  understand,'  said  Agelastes,  'your  lady 
shares  with  your  honourable  self  in  these  valorous  resolu- 
tions? Can  this  be? ' 

'You  may  undervalue  my  female  courage,  father,  if 
such  is  your  will,'  said  the  Countess;  'but  I  speak  in 
presence  of  a  witness  who  can  attest  the  truth  when  I 
say,  that  a  man  of  half  your  years  had  not  doubted  the 
truth  with  impunity.' 

'  Nay,  Heaven  protect  me  from  the  Hghtning  of  your 
eyes,'  said  Agelastes,  'whether  in  anger  or  in  scorn.  I 
bear  an  aegis  about  myself  against  what  I  should  else 
have  feared.  But  age,  with  its  incapacities,  brings  also 
its  apologies.  Perhaps,  indeed,  it  is  one  like  me  whom 
you  seek  to  find,  and  in  that  case  I  should  be  happy  to 
render  to  you  such  services  as  it  is  my  duty  to  offer  to  all 
worthy  knights.' 

'I  have  already  said,'  replied  Count  Robert,  'that, 
after  the  accomplishment  of  my  vow  '  —  he  looked  up- 
wards and  crossed  himself  —  '  there  is  nothing  on  earth 
to  which  I  am  more  bound  than  to  celebrate  my  name  in 
arms  as  becomes  a  valiant  cavalier.   When  men  die 

192 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

obscurely,  they  die  for  ever.  Had  my  ancestor  Charles 
never  left  the  paltry  banks  of  the  Saale,  he  had  not 
now  been  much  better  known  than  any  vine-dresser  who 
wielded  his  pruning-hook  in  the  same  territories.  But  he 
bore  him  like  a  brave  man,  and  his  name  is  deathless  in 
the  memory  of  the  worthy.' 

'Young  man,'  said  the  old  Grecian,  'although  it  is  but 
seldom  that  such  as  you,  whom  I  was  made  to  serve  and 
to  value,  visit  this  country,  it  is  not  the  less  true  that  I 
am  well  qualified  to  serve  you  in  the  matter  which  you 
have  so  much  at  heart.  My  acquaintance  with  nature 
has  been  so  perfect  and  so  long,  that,  during  its  continu- 
ance, she  has  disappeared,  and  another  world  has  been 
spread  before  me,  in  which  she  has  but  little  to  do.  Thus 
the  curious  stores  which  I  have  assembled  are  beyond 
the  researches  of  other  men,  and  not  to  be  laid  before 
those  whose  deeds  of  valour  are  to  be  bounded  by  the  or- 
dinary probabilities  of  every-day  nature.  No  romancer 
of  your  romantic  country  ever  devised  such  extraor- 
dinary adventures  out  of  his  own  imagination,  and  to 
feed  the  idle  wonder  of  those  who  sat  listening  around,  as 
those  which  I  know,  not  of  idle  invention,  but  of  real 
positive  existence,  with  the  means  of  achieving  and 
accomplishing  the  conditions  of  each  adventure.' 

*If  such  be  your  real  profession,'  said  the  French 
count,  'you  have  met  one  of  those  whom  you  chiefly 
search  for;  nor  will  my  Countess  and  I  stir  farther  upon 
our  road  until  you  have  pointed  out  to  us  some  one  of 
those  adventures  which  it  is  the  business  of  errant- 
knights  to  be  industrious  in  seeking  out.' 

So  saying,  he  sat  down  by  the  side  of  the  old 
man;  and  his  lady,  with  a  degree  of  reverence  which 
49  193 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

had  something  in  it  almost  diverting,  followed  his 
example. 

'We  have  fallen  right,  Brenhilda,'  said  Count  Robert: 
'our  guardian  angel  has  watched  his  charge  carefully. 
Here  have  we  come  among  an  ignorant  set  of  pedants, 
chattering  their  absurd  language,  and  holding  more  im- 
portant the  least  look  that  a  cowardly  emperor  can  give 
than  the  best  blow  that  a  good  knight  can  deal.  Believe 
me,  I  was  well-nigh  thinking  that  we  had  done  ill  to  take 
the  cross  —  God  forgive  such  an  impious  doubt !  Yet 
here,  when  we  were  even  despairing  to  find  the  road  to 
fame,  we  have  met  with  one  of  those  excellent  men 
whom  the  knights  of  yore  were  wont  to  find  sitting  by 
springs,  by  crosses,  and  by  altars,  ready  to  direct  the 
wandering  knight  where  fame  was  to  be  found.  Disturb 
him  not,  my  Brenhilda,'  said  the  Count,  'but  let  him 
recall  to  himself  his  stories  of  the  ancient  time,  and  thou 
shalt  see  he  will  enrich  us  with  the  treasures  of  his 
information.' 

'If,*  replied  Agelastes,  after  some  pause,  'I  have 
waited  for  a  longer  term  than  human  life  is  granted  to 
most  men,  I  shall  still  be  overpaid  by  dedicating  what 
remains  of  existence  to  the  service  of  a  pair  so  devoted  to 
chivalry.  What  first  occurs  to  me  is  a  story  of  our  Greek 
country,  so  famous  in  adventures,  and  which  I  shall 
briefly  detail  to  you :  — 

'Afar  hence,  in  our  renowned  Grecian  Archipelago^ 
amid  storms  and  whirlpools,  rocks  which,  changing  their 
character,  appear  to  precipitate  themselves  against  each 
other,  and  billows  that  are  never  in  a  pacific  state,  lies 
the  rich  island  of  Zulichium,  inhabited,  notwithstanding 
its  wealth,  by  a  very  few  natives,  who  live  only  upon  the 

194 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

sea-coast.  The  inland  part  of  the  island  is  one  immense 
mountain,  or  pile  of  mountains,  amongst  which,  those 
who  dare  approach  near  enough  may,  we  are  assured, 
discern  the  moss-grown  and  antiquated  towers  and  pin^ 
nacles  of  a  stately  but  ruinous  castle,  the  habitation  of 
the  sovereign  of  the  island,  in  which  she  has  been  en- 
chanted for  a  great  many  years. 

'A  bold  knight,  who  came  upon  a  pilgrimage  to  Jeru- 
salem, made  a  vow  to  deliver  this  unhappy  victim  of 
pain  and  sorcery,  feeling,  with  justice,  vehemently 
offended  that  the  fiends  of  darkness  should  exercise  any 
authority  near  the  Holy  Land,  which  might  be  termed 
the  very  fountain  of  light.  Two  of  the  oldest  inhabitants 
of  the  island  undertook  to  guide  him  as  near  to  the  main 
gate  as  they  durst,  nor  did  they  approach  it  more  closely 
than  the  length  of  a  bow-shot.  Here,  then,  abandoned 
to  himself,  the  brave  Frank  set  forth  upon  his  enter- 
prise, with  a  stout  heart,  and  Heaven  alone  to  friend. 
The  fabric  which  he  approached  showed,  by  its  gigantic 
size  and  splendour  of  outline,  the  power  and  wealth  of  the 
potentate  who  had  erected  it.  The  brazen  gates  unfolded 
themselves  as  if  with  hope  and  pleasure;  and  aerial  voices 
swept  around  the  spires  and  turrets,  congratulating  the 
genius  of  the  place,  it  might  be,  upon  the  expected  ap- 
proach of  its  deliverer. 

'The  knight  passed  on,  not  unmoved  with  wonder, 
though  untainted  by  fear;  and  the  Gothic  splendours 
which  he  saw  were  of  a  kind  highly  to  exalt  his  idea  of 
the  beauty  of  the  mistress  for  whom  a  prison-house  had 
been  so  richly  decorated.  Guards  there  were  in  Eastern 
dress  and  arms,  upon  bulwark  and  buttress,  in  readiness, 
it  appeared,  to  bend  their  bows;  but  the  warriors  were 

195 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

motionless  and  silent,  and  took  no  more  notice  of  the 
armed  step  of  the  knight  than  if  a  monk  or  hermit  had 
approached  their  guarded  post.  They  were  Hving,  and 
yet,  as  to  all  power  and  sense,  they  might  be  considered 
among  the  dead.  If  there  was  truth  in  the  old  tradition, 
the  sun  had  shone  and  the  rain  had  fallen  upon  them  for 
more  than  four  hundred  changing  seasons,  without  their 
being  sensible  of  the  gem'al  warmth  of  the  one  or  the  cold- 
ness of  the  other.  Like  the  Israehtes  in  the  desert,  their 
shoes  had  not  decayed,  nor  their  vestments  waxed  old. 
As  Time  left  them,  so  and  without  alteration  was  he 
again  to  find  them.'  The  philosopher  began  now  to  recall 
what  he  had  heard  of  the  cause  of  their  enchantment. 

*  The  sage  to  whom  this  potent  charm  is  imputed  was 
one  of  the  Magi  who  followed  the  tenets  of  Zoroaster.  He 
had  come  to  the  court  of  this  youthful  princess,  who 
received  him  with  every  attention  which  gratified  vanity 
could  dictate,  so  that  in  a  short  time  her  awe  of  this  grave 
personage  was  lost  in  the  sense  of  ascendency  which  her 
beauty  gave  her  over  him.  It  was  no  difficult  matter  — 
in  fact  it  happens  every  day  —  for  the  beautiful  woman 
to  lull  the  wise  man  into  what  is  not  unaptly  called  a 
fool's  paradise.  The  sage  was  induced  to  attempt  feats 
of  youth  which  his  years  rendered  ridiculous:  he  could 
command  the  elements,  but  the  common  course  of  nature 
was  beyond  his  power.  When,  therefore,  he  exerted  his 
magic  strength,  the  mountains  bent  and  the  seas  receded; 
but  when  the  philosopher  attempted  to  lead  forth  the 
Princess  of  Zulichium  in  the  youthful  dance,  youths  and 
maidens  turned  their  heads  aside  lest  they  should  make 
too  manifest  the  ludicrous  ideas  with  which  they  were 
impressed. 

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COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'Unhappily,  as  the  aged,  even  the  wisest  of  them,  will 
forget  themselves,  so  the  young  naturally  enter  into  an 
alliance  to  spy  out,  ridicule,  and  enjoy  their  foibles. 
Many  were  the  glances  which  the  Princess  sent  among 
her  retinue,  intimating  the  nature  of  the  amusement 
which  she  received  from  the  attentions  of  her  formidable 
lover.  In  process  of  time,  she  lost  her  caution,  and  a 
glance  was  detected,  expressing  to  the  old  man  the  ridi- 
cule and  contempt  in  which  he  had  been  all  along  held  by 
the  object  of  his  affections.  Earth  has  no  passion  so  bitter 
as  love  converted  to  hatred ;  and  while  the  sage  bitterly 
regretted  what  he  had  done,  he  did  not  the  less  resent 
the  light-hearted  folly  of  the  Princess  by  whom  he  had 
been  duped. 

*If,  however,  he  was  angry,  he  possessed  the  art  to 
conceal  it.  Not  a  word,  not  a  look  expressed  the  bitter 
disappointment  which  he  had  received.  A  shade  of 
melancholy,  or  rather  gloom,  upon  his  brow  alone  inti- 
mated the  coming  storm.  The  Princess  became  some- 
what alarmed;  she  was,  besides,  extremely  good-natured, 
nor  had  her  intentions  of  leading  the  old  man  into 
what  would  render  him  ridiculous  been  so  accurately 
planned  with  malice  prepense  as  they  were  the  effect 
of  accident  and  chance.  She  saw  the  pain  which  he 
suffered,  and  thought  to  end  it  by  going  up  to  him, 
when  about  to  retire,  and  kindly  wishing  him  good- 
night. 

"'You  say  well,  daughter,"  said  the  sage,  "good- 
night; but  who,  of  the  numbers  who  hear  me,  shall  say 
good-morning?" 

'The  speech  drew  little  attention,  although  two  or 
three  persons  to  whom  the  character  of  the  sage  was 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

known  fled  from  the  island  that  very  night,  and  by  their 
report  made  known  the  circumstances  attending  the 
first  infliction  of  this  extraordinary  spell  on  those  who 
remained  within  the  castle.  A  sleep  like  that  of  death  fell 
upon  them,  and  was  not  removed.  Most  of  the  inhabit- 
ants left  the  island ;  the  few  who  remained  were  cautious 
how  they  approached  the  castle,  and  watched  until  some 
bold  adventurer  should  bring  that  happy  awakening 
which  the  speech  of  the  sorcerer  seemed  in  some  degree 
to  intimate. 

'Never  seemed  there  a  fairer  opportunity  for  that 
awakening  to  take  place  than  when  the  proud  step  of 
Artavan  de  Hautlieu  was  placed  upon  those  enchanted 
courts.  On  the  left  lay  the  palace  and  donjon-keep ;  but 
the  right,  more  attractive,  seemed  to  invite  to  the  apart- 
ment of  the  women.  At  a  side  door  reclined  on  a  couch 
two  guards  of  the  haram,  with  their  naked  swords  grasped 
in  their  hands,  and  features  fiendishly  contorted  between 
sleep  and  dissolution  seemed  to  menace  death  to  any  who 
should  venture  to  approach.  This  threat  deterred  not 
Artavan  de  Hautlieu.  He  approached  the  entrance, 
when  the  doors,  like  those  of  the  great  entrance  to  the 
castle,  made  themselves  instantly  accessible  to  him.  A 
guard-room  of  the  same  effeminate  soldiers  received  him, 
nor  could  the  strictest  examination  have  discovered  to 
him  whether  it  was  sleep  or  death  which  arrested  the 
eyes  that  seemed  to  look  upon  and  prohibit  his  advance. 
Unheeding  the  presence  of  these  ghastly  sentinels,  Arta- 
van pressed  forward  into  an  inner  apartment,  where 
female  slaves  of  the  most  distinguished  beauty  were 
visible  in  the  attitude  of  those  who  had  already  assumed 
their  dress  for  the  night.  There  was  much  in  this  scene 

198 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

which  might  have  arrested  so  young  a  pilgrim  as  Artavan 
of  Hautlieu ;  but  his  heart  was  fixed  upon  achieving  the 
freedom  of  the  beautiful  princess,  nor  did  he  suffer  him- 
self to  be  withdrawn  from  that  object  by  any  inferior 
consideration.  He  passed  on,  therefore,  to  a  little  ivory 
door,  which,  after  a  moment's  pause,  as  if  in  maidenly 
hesitation,  gave  way  like  the  rest,  and  yielded  access  to 
the  sleeping-apartment  of  the  Princess  herself.  A  soft 
light,  resembling  that  of  evening,  penetrated  into  a 
chamber  where  everything  seemed  contrived  to  exalt 
the  luxury  of  slumber.  The  heaps  of  cushions  which 
formed  a  stately  bed  seemed  rather  to  be  touched  than 
impressed  by  the  form  of  a  nymph  of  fifteen,  the  re- 
nowned Princess  of  Zulichium..' 

'Without  interrupting  you,  good  father,'  said  the 
Countess  Brenhilda,  'it  seems  to  me  that  we  can  com- 
prehend the  picture  of  a  woman  asleep  without  much 
dilating  upon  it,  and  that  such  a  subject  is  little  recom- 
mended either  by  our  age  or  by  yours.' 

'Pardon  me,  noble  lady,'  answered  Agelastes,  'the 
most  approved  part  of  my  story  has  ever  been  this  pas- 
sage, and  while  I  now  suppress  it  in  obedience  to  your 
command,  bear  notice,  I  pray  you,  that  I  sacrifice  the 
most  beautiful  part  of  the  tale.' 

'Brenhilda,'  added  the  Count,  'I  am  surprised  you 
think  of  interrupting  a  story  which  has  hitherto  pro- 
ceeded with  so  much  fire:  the  telling  of  a  few  words 
more  or  less  will  surely  have  a  much  greater  influence 
upon  the  sense  of  the  narrative  than  such  an  addition 
can  possibly  possess  over  our  sentiments  of  action.' 

'As  you  will,'  said  his  lady,  throwing  herself  carelessly 
back  upon  the  seat;  'but  methinks  the  worthy  father 

199 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

protracts  this  discourse  till  it  becomes  of  a  nature  more 
trifling  than  interesting.' 

'Brenhilda,'  said  the  Count,  'this  is  the  first  time  I 
have  remarked  in  you  a  woman's  weakness.' 

*I  may  as  well  say,  Count  Robert,  that  it  is  the  first 
time,'  answered  Brenhilda, '  that  you  have  shown  to  me 
the  inconstancy  of  your  sex.' 

'Gods  and  goddesses,'  said  the  philosopher,  'was  ever 
known  a  quarrel  more  absurdly  founded !  The  Countess 
is  jealous  of  one  whom  her  husband  probably  never 
will  see,  nor  is  there  any  prospect  that  the  Princess  of 
Zulichium  will  be  hereafter  better  known  to  the  modern 
world  than  if  the  curtain  hung  before  her  tomb.' 

'Proceed,'  said  Count  Robert  of  Paris; '  if  Sir  Artavan 
of  Hautlieu  has  not  accomplished  the  enfranchisement 
of  the  Princess  of  Zulichium,  I  make  a  vow  to  Our  Lady 
of  the  Broken  Lances  — ' 

'Remember,'  said  his  lady,  interfering,  'that  you  are 
already  under  a  vow  to  free  the  Sepulchre  of  God;  and 
to  that,  methinks,  all  lighter  engagements  might  give 
place.' 

'Well,  lady  —  well,'  said  Count  Robert,  but  half 
satisfied  with  this  interference,  'I  will  not  engage  my- 
self, you  may  be  assured,  on  any  adventure  which  may 
claim  precedence  of  the  enterprise  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre, to  which  we  are  all  bound.' 

'Alas ! '  said  Agelastes, '  the  distance  of  Zulichium  from 
the  speediest  route  to  the  sepulchre  is  so  small,  that  — ' 

'Worthy  father,'  said  the  Countess,  'we  will,  if  it 
pleases  you,  hear  your  tale  to  an  end,  and  then  deter- 
mine what  we  will  do.  We  Norman  ladies,  descendants 
of  the  old  Germans,  claim  a  voice  with  our  lords  in  the 

200 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

council  which  precedes  the  battle,  nor  has  our  assistance 
in  the  conflict  been  deemed  altogether  useless.' 

The  tone  in  which  this  was  spoken  conveyed  an  awk- 
ward innuendo  to  the  philosopher,  who  began  to  foresee 
that  the  guidance  of  the  Norman  knight  would  be  more 
difiicult  than  he  had  foreseen,  while  his  consort  remained 
by  his  side.  He  took  up,  therefore,  his  oratory  on  some- 
what a  lower  key  than  before,  and  avoided  those  warm 
descriptions  which  had  given  such  offence  to  the  Count- 
ess Brenhilda. 

'Sir  Artavan  de  HautUeu,  says  the  story,  considered 
in  what  way  he  should  accost  the  sleeping  damsel,  when 
it  occurred  to  him  in  what  manner  the  charm  would  be 
most  likely  to  be  reversed.  I  am  in  your  judgment,  fair 
lady,  if  he  judged  wrong  in  resolving  that  the  method  of 
his  address  should  be  a  kiss  upon  the  lips.' 

The  colour  of  Brenhilda  was  somewhat  heightened, 
but  she  did  not  deem  the  observation  worthy  of  notice. 

'Never  had  so  innocent  an  action,'  continued  the  phi- 
losopher, 'an  effect  more  horrible.  The  delightful  light 
of  a  summer  evening  was  instantly  changed  into  a 
strange  lurid  hue,  which,  infected  with  sulphur,  seemed 
to  breathe  suffocation  through  the  apartment.  The  rich 
hangings  and  splendid  furniture  of  the  chamber,  the 
very  walls  themselves,  were  changed  into  huge  stones 
tossed  together  at  random,  like  the  inside  of  a  wild 
beast's  den;  nor  was  the  den  without  an  inhabitant. 
The  beautiful  and  innocent  Hps  to  which  Artavan  de 
Hautlieu  had  approached  his  own  were  now  changed 
into  the  hideous  and  bizarre  form  and  bestial  aspect  of  a 
fiery  dragon.  A  moment  she  hovered  upon  the  wing,  and 
it  is  said,  had  Sir  Artavan  found  courage  to  repeat  his 

20I 


OJi 


«i 


Ss'i?^- 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

salute  three  times,  he  would  then  have  remained  master 
of  all  the  wealth  and  of  the  disenchanted  princess.  But 
the  opportunity  was  lost,  and  the  dragon,  or  the  creature 
who  seemed  such,  sailed  out  at  a  side  window  upon  its 
broad  pennons,  uttering  loud  wails  of  disappointment.' 

Here  ended  the  story  of  Agelastes.  'The  Princess,'  he 
said,  'is  still  supposed  to  abide  her  doom  in  the  Island 
of  Zulichium,  and  several  knights  have  undertaken  the 
adventure;  but  I  know  not  whether  it  was  the  fear  of 
saluting  the  sleeping  maiden,  or  that  of  approaching  the 
dragon  into  which  she  was  transformed,  but  so  it  is,  the 
spell  remains  unachieved.  I  know  the  way,  and  if  you 
say  the  word,  you  may  be  to-morrow  on  the  road  to  the 
castle  of  enchantment.' 

The  Countess  heard  this  proposal  with  the  deepest 
anxiety,  for  she  knew  that  she  might,  by  opposition, 
determine  her  husband  irrevocably  upon  following  out 
the  enterprise.  She  stood  therefore  with  a  timid  and 
bashful  look,  strange  in  a  person  whose  bearing  was 
generally  so  dauntless,  and  prudently  left  it  to  the  unin- 
fluenced mind  of  Coimt  Robert  to  form  the  resolution 
which  should  best  please  him. 

'Brenhilda,'  he  said,  taking  her  hand,  'fame  and  hon- 
our are  dear  to  thy  husband  as  ever  they  were  to  knight 
who  buckled  a  brand  upon  his  side.  Thou  hast  done, 
perhaps,  I  may  say,  for  me  what  I  might  in  vain  have 
looked  for  from  ladies  of  thy  condition;  and  therefore 
thou  mayst  well  expect  a  casting  voice  in  such  points  of 
deliberation.  Why  dost  thou  wander  by  the  side  of  a 
foreign  and  unhealthy  shore,  instead  of  the  banks  of  the 
lovely  Seine?  Why  dost  thou  wear  a  dress  unusual  to 
thy  sex?  Why  dost  thou  seek  death,  and  think  it  little, 

202 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

in  comparison  of  shame?  Why?  but  that  the  Count  of 
Paris  may  have  a  bride  worthy  of  him.  Dost  thou  think 
that  this  affection  is  thrown  away?  No,  by  the  saints! 
Thy  knight  repays  it  as  he  best  ought,  and  sacrifices  to 
thee  every  thought  which  thy  affection  may  less  than 
entirely  approve.' 

Poor  Brenhilda,  confused  as  she  was  by  the  various 
emotions  with  which  she  was  agitated,  now  in  vain 
endeavoured  to  maintain  the  heroic  deportment  which 
her  character  as  an  amazon  required  from  her.  She 
attempted  to  assume  the  proud  and  lofty  look  which  was 
properly  her  own,  but,  failing  in  the  effort,  she  threw 
herself  into  the  Count's  arms,  hung  round  his  neck,  and 
wept  like  a  village  maiden  whose  true  love  is  pressed  for 
the  wars.  Her  husband,  a  little  ashamed,  while  he  was 
much  moved,  by  this  burst  of  affection  in  one  to  whose 
character  it  seemed  an  unusual  attribute,  was,  at  the 
same  time,  pleased  and  proud  that  he  could  have  awak- 
ened an  affection  so  genuine  and  so  gentle  in  a  soul  so 
high-spirited  and  so  unbending. 

*Not  thus,'  he  said,  'my  Brenhilda!  I  would  not  have 
it  thus,  either  for  thine  own  sake  or  for  mine.  Do  not 
let  this  wise  old  man  suppose  that  thy  heart  is  made  of 
the  malleable  stuff  which  forms  that  of  other  maidens ; 
and  apologise  to  him,  as  may  well  become  thee,  for 
having  prevented  my  undertaking  the  adventure  of 
Zulichium,  which  he  recommends.' 

It  was  not  easy  for  Brenhilda  to  recover  herself,  after 
having  afforded  so  notable  an  instance  how  nature  can 
vindicate  her  rights,  with  whatever  rigour  she  may  have 
been  disciplined  and  tyrannised  over.  With  a  look  of  'm-> 
effable  affection,  she  disjoined  herself  from  her  husband, 

203 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

still  keeping  hold  of  his  hand,  and  turning  to  the  old 
man  with  a  countenance  in  which  the  half -effaced  tears 
were  succeeded  by  smiles  of  pleasure  and  of  modesty, 
she  spoke  to  Agelastes  as  she  would  to  a  person  whom 
she  respected,  and  towards  whom  she  had  some  offence 
to  atone.  'Father,'  she  said,  respectfully,  *be  not  angry 
with  me  that  I  should  have  been  an  obstacle  to  one  of 
the  best  knights  that  ever  spurred  steed  undertaking  the 
enterprise  of  thine  enchanted  princess;  but  the  truth  is 
that,  in  our  land,  where  knighthood  and  rehgion  agree 
in  permitting  only  one  lady  love,  and  one  lady  wife,  we 
do  not  quite  so  willingly  see  our  husbands  run  into  dan- 
ger, especially  of  that  kind  where  lonely  ladies  are  the 
parties  relieved  —  and  —  and  kisses  are  the  ransom 
paid.  I  have  as  much  confidence  in  my  Robert's  fidelity 
as  a  lady  can  have  in  a  loving  knight,  but  still  — ' 

'Lovely  lady,'  said  Agelastes,  who,  notwithstanding 
his  highly  artificial  character,  could  not  help  being 
moved  by  the  simple  and  sincere  affection  of  the  hand- 
some young  pair,  'you  have  done  no  evil.  The  state  of 
the  Princess  is  no  worse  than  it  was,  and  there  cannot  be 
a  doubt  that  the  knight  fated  to  relieve  her  will  appear 
at  the  destined  period.' 

The  Countess  smiled  sadly,  and  shook  her  head.  'You 
do  not  know,'  she  said,  'how  powerful  is  the  aid  of  which 
I  have  unhappily  deprived  this  unfortunate  lady,  by  a 
jealousy  which  I  now  feel  to  have  been  alike  paltry  and 
unworthy;  and,  such  is  my  regret,  that  I  could  find  in 
my  heart  to  retract  my  opposition  to  Count  Robert's 
undertaking  this  adventure.'  She  looked  at  her  husband 
with  some  arLxiety,  as  one  that  had  made  an  offer  she 
would  not  willingly  see  accepted,  and  did  not  recover 

204 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

her  courage  until  he  said  decidedly,  'Brenhilda,  that 
may  not  be.' 

'And  why,  then,  may  not  Brenhilda  herself  take  the 
adventure,'  continued  the  Countess,  'since  she  can 
neither  fear  the  charms  of  the  Princess  nor  the  terrors 
of  the  dragon?' 

'Lady,'  said  Agelastes,  'the  Princess  must  be  awak- 
ened by  the  kiss  of  love,  and  not  by  that  of  friendship.' 

'A  sufficient  reason,'  said  the  Countess,  smiUng,  'why 
a  lady  may  not  wish  her  lord  to  go  forth  upon  an  adven- 
ture of  which  the  conditions  are  so  regulated.' 

'Noble  minstrel,  or  herald,  or  by  whatever  name  this 
country  calls  you,'  said  Count  Robert,  'accept  a  small 
remuneration  for  an  hour  pleasantly  spent,  though  spent, 
unhappily,  in  vain.  I  should  make  some  apology  for  the 
meanness  of  my  offering,  but  French  knights,  you  may 
have  occasion  to  know,  are  more  full  of  fame  than  of 
wealth.' 

'Not  for  that,  noble  sir,'  replied  Agelastes,  'would  I 
refuse  your  munificence:  a  besant  from  your  worthy 
hand  or  that  of  your  noble-minded  lady  were  centupled 
in  its  value  by  the  eminence  of  the  persons  from  whom  it 
came.  I  would  hang  it  round  my  neck  by  a  string  of 
pearls,  and  when  I  came  into  the  presence  of  knights  and 
of  ladies  I  would  proclaim  that  this  addition  to  my 
achievement  of  armorial  distinction  was  bestowed  by  the 
renowned  Count  Robert  of  Paris  and  his  unequalled 
lady.'  The  knight  and  the  countess  looked  on  each  other, 
and  the  lady,  taking  from  her  finger  a  ring  of  pure  gold, 
prayed  the  old  man  to  accept  of  it  as  a  mark  of  her  esteem 
and  her  husband's.  'With  one  other  condition,'  said  the 
philosopher,  'which  I  trust  you  will  not  find  altogether 

205 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

unsatisfactory.  I  have,  on  the  way  to  the  city  by  the 
most  pleasant  road,  a  small  kiosk,  or  hermitage,  where  I 
sometimes  receive  my  friends,  who,  I  venture  to  say,  are 
among  the  most  respectable  personages  of  this  empire. 
Two  or  three  of  these  will  probably  honour  my  residence 
to-day,  and  partake  of  the  provision  it  affords.  Could  I 
add  to  these  the  company  of  the  noble  Count  and  Count- 
ess of  Paris,  I  should  deem  my  poor  habitation  hon- 
oured for  ever.' 

'How  say  you,  my  noble  wife? '  said  the  Count.  'The 
company  of  a  minstrel  befits  the  highest  birth,  honours 
the  highest  rank,  and  adds  to  the  greatest  achieve- 
ments; and  the  invitation  does  us  too  much  credit  to  be 
rejected.' 

.  'It  grows  somewhat  late,'  said  the  Countess;  'but  we 
came  not  here  to  shun  a  sinking  sun  or  a  darkening  sky, 
and  I  feel  it  my  duty,  as  well  as  my  satisfaction,  to  place 
at  the  command  of  the  good  father  every  pleasure  which 
it  is  in  my  power  to  offer  to  him,  for  having  been  the 
means  of  your  neglecting  his  advice.' 

'The  path  is  so  short,'  said  Agelastes,  'that  we  had 
better  keep  our  present  mode  of  travelKng,  if  the  lady 
should  not  want  the  assistance  of  horses.' 

'No  horses  on  my  account,'  said  the  Lady  Brenhilda. 
*My  waiting-woman,  Agatha,  has  what  necessaries  I 
may  require;  and,  for  the  rest,  no  knight  ever  travelled 
so  little  embarrassed  with  baggage  as  my  husband.' 

Agelastes,  therefore,  led  the  way  through  the  deepen- 
ing wood,  which  was  freshened  by  the  cooler  breath  of 
evening,  and  his  guests  accompanied  him. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Without,  a  ruin,  broken,  tangled,  cumbrous, 
Within,  it  was  a  little  paradise, 
Where  Taste  had  made  her  dwelling.  Statuary, 
First-born  of  human  art,  moulded  her  images, 
And  bade  men  mark  and  worship. 

Anonymous. 

The  Count  of  Paris  and  his  lady  attended  the  old  man, 
whose  advanced  age,  his  excellence  in  the  use  of  the 
French  language,  which  he  spoke  to  admiration  —  above 
all,  his  skill  in  applying  it  to  poetical  and  romantic  sub- 
jects, which  was  essential  to  what  was  then  termed  his- 
tory and  belles-lettres  —  drew  from  the  noble  hearers-  a 
degree  of  applause  which,  as  Agelastes  had  seldom  been 
vain  enough  to  consider  as  his  due,  so,  on  the  part  of  the 
Knight  of  Paris  and  his  lady,  had  it  been  but  rarely 
conferred. 

They  had  walked  for  some  time  by  a  path  which  some- 
times seemed  to  hide  itself  among  the  woods  that  came 
down  to  the  shore  of  the  Propontis,  sometimes  emerged 
from  concealment,  and  skirted  the  open  margin  of  the 
strait,  while  at  every  turn  it  seemed  guided  by  the  desire 
to  select  a  choice  and  contrast  of  beauty.  Variety  of 
scenes  and  manners  enHvened,  from  their  novelty,  the 
landscape  to  the  pilgrims.  By  the  sea-shore,  nymphs 
were  seen  dancing  and  shepherds  piping,  or  beating  the 
tambourine  to  their  steps,  as  represented  in  some  groups 
of  ancient  statuary.  The  very  faces  had  a  singular  re- 
semblance to  the  antique.  If  old,  their  long  robes,  their 
attitudes,  and  magnificent  heads,  presented  the  ideas 

207 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

which  distinguish  prophets  and  saints;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  features  of  the  young  recalled  the  expres- 
sive countenances  of  the  heroes  of  antiquity,  and  the 
charms  of  those  lovely  females  by  whom  their  deeds  were 
inspired. 

But  the  race  of  the  Greeks  was  no  longer  to  be  seen, 
even  in  its  native  country,  unmixed,  or  in  absolute 
purity;  on  the  contrary,  they  saw  groups  of  persons  with 
features  which  argued  a  different  descent. 

In  a  retiring  bosom  of  the  shore,  which  was  traversed 
by  the  path,  the  rocks,  receding  from  the  beach,  rounded 
off  a  spacious  portion  of  level  sand,  and,  in  some  degree, 
inclosed  it.  A  party  of  heathen  Scythians  whom  they 
beheld  presented  the  deformed  features  of  the  demons 
they  were  said  to  worship  —  flat  noses  with  expanded 
nostrils,  which  seemed  to  admit  the  sight  to  their  very 
brain;  faces  which  extended  rather  in  breadth  than 
length,  with  strange  unintellectual  eyes  placed  in  the 
extremity;  figures  short  and  dwarfish,  yet  garnished  with 
legs  and  arms  of  astonishing  sinewy  strength,  dispropor- 
tioned  to  their  bodies.  As  the  travellers  passed,  the 
savages  held  a  species  of  tournament,  as  the  Count 
termed  it.  In  this  they  exercised  themselves  by  darting 
at  each  other  long  reeds,  or  canes,  balanced  for  the  pur- 
pose, which,  in  this  rude  sport,  they  threw  with  such 
force  as  not  unfrequently  to  strike  each  other  from  their 
steeds,  and  otherwise  to  cause  serious  damage.  Some 
of  the  combatants  being,  for  the  time,  out  of  the  play, 
devoured  with  greedy  looks  the  beauty  of  the  Countess, 
and  eyed  her  in  such  a  manner  that  she  said  to  Count 
Robert  —  *I  have  never  known  fear,  my  husband,  nor 
is  it  for  me  to  acknowledge  it  now;  but  if  disgust  be  an 

208 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

ingredient  of  it,  these  misformed  brutes  are  qualified  to 
inspire  it.' 

'What,  ho,  sir  knight!'  exclaimed  one  of  the  infidels, 
'your  wife,  or  your  lady  love,  has  committed  a  fault 
against  the  privileges  of  the  imperial  Scythians,  and  not 
small  will  be  the  penalty  she  has  incurred.  You  may  go 
your  way  as  fast  as  you  will  out  of  this  place,  which  is, 
for  the  present,  our  hippodrome  or  atmeidan,  call  it 
which  you  will,  as  you  prize  the  Roman  or  the  Saracen 
language;  but  for  your  wife,  if  the  sacrament  has  united 
you,  beheve  my  word,  that  she  parts  not  so  soon  nor  so 
easy.' 

'Scoundrel  heathen,'  said  the  Christian  knight,  'dost 
thou  hold  that  language  to  a  peer  of  France? ' 

Agelastes  here  interposed,  and,  using  the  sounding 
language  of  a  Grecian  courtier,  reminded  the  Scythians 
(mercenary  soldiers,  as  they  seemed,  of  the  empire) 
that  all  violence  against  the  European  pilgrims  was,  by 
the  imperial  orders,  strictly  prohibited  under  pain  of 
death. 

*I  know  better,'  said  the  exulting  savage,  shaking  one 
or  two  javelins  with  broad  steel  heads  and  wings  of  the 
eagle's  feather,  which  last  were  dabbled  in  blood.  *Ask 
the  wings  of  my  javelin,'  he  said,  'in  whose  heart's  blood 
these  feathers  have  been  dyed.  They  shall  reply  to  you 
that,  if  Alexius  Comnenus  be  the  friend  of  the  European 
pilgrims,  it  is  only  while  he  looks  upon  them;  and  we  are 
too  exemplary  soldiers  to  serve  our  emperor  otherwise 
than  he  wishes  to  be  served.' 

'Peace,  Toxartis,'  said  the  philosopher,  'thou  behest 
thine  emperor.' 

'Peace  thou!'  said  Toxartis,  'or  I  will  do  a  deed  that 
43  209 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

misbecomes  a  soldier,  and  rid  the  world  of  a  prating  old 
man.' 

So  sa5^ng,  he  put  forth  his  hand  to  take  hold  of  the 
Countess's  veil.  With  the  readiness  which  frequent  use 
had  given  to  the  warlike  lady,  she  withdrew  herself  from 
the  heathen's  grasp,  and  with  her  trenchant  sword  dealt 
him  so  sufficient  a  blow,  that  Toxartis  lay  lifeless  on  the 
plain.  The  Count  leapt  on  the  fallen  leader's  steed,  and 
crying  his  war-cry,  'Son  of  Charlemagne,  to  the  rescue!' 
he  rode  amid  the  rout  of  heathen  cavaliers  with  a  battle- 
axe,  which  he  found  at  the  saddle-bow  of  the  deceased 
chieftain,  and  wielding  it  with  remorseless  dexterity,  he 
soon  slew  or  wounded,  or  compelled  to  flight,  the  objects 
of  his  resentment;  nor  was  there  any  of  them  who 
abode  an  instant  to  support  the  boast  which  they  had 
made. 

'The  despicable  churls!'  said  the  Countess  to  Agelas- 
tes;  *it  irks  me  that  a  drop  of  such  coward  blood  should 
stain  the  hands  of  a  noble  knight.  They  call  their  exer- 
cise a  tournament,  although  in  their  whole  exertions 
every  blow  is  aimed  behind  the  back,  and  not  one  has 
the  courage  to  throw  his  windlestraw  while  he  perceives 
that  of  another  pointed  against  himself.' 

'Such  is  their  custom,'  said  Agelastes;  'not  perhaps  so 
much  from  cowardice  as  from  habit,  in  exercising  before 
his  Imperial  Majesty.  I  have  seen  that  Toxartis  liter- 
ally turn  his  back  upon  the  mark  when  he  bent  his  bow 
in  full  career,  and  when  in  the  act  of  galloping  the  far- 
thest from  his  object,  he  pierced  it  through  the  very 
centre  with  a  broad  arrow.' 

'A  force  of  such  soldiers,'  said  Count  Robert,  who  had 
now  rejoined  his  friends,  '  could  not,  methinks,  be  very 

2IO 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

formidable  where  there  was  but  an  ounce  of  genuine 
courage  in  the  assailants.' 

'Meantime,  let  us  pass  on  to  my  kiosk,'  said  Agelastes, 
'lest  the  fugitives  find  friends  to  encourage  them  in 
thoughts  of  revenge.' 

*  Such  friends,'  said  Count  Robert,  *  methinks,  the  inso- 
lent heathens  ought  not  to  find  in  any  land  which  calls 
itself  Christian;  and  if  I  survive  the  conquest  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  I  shall  make  it  my  first  business  to  inquire  by 
what  right  your  emperor  retains  in  his  service  a  band 
of  paynim  and  unmannerly  cut-throats,  who  dare  offer 
injury  upon  the  highway,  which  ought  to  be  sacred  to 
the  peace  of  God  and  the  king,  and  to  noble  ladies  and 
inoffensive  pilgrims.  It  is  one  of  a  fist  of  many  questions, 
which,  my  vow  accompUshed,  I  will  not  fail  to  put  to 
him  —  ay,  and  expecting  an  answer,  as  they  say,  prompt 
and  categorical.' 

'You  shall  gain  no  answer  from  me,  though,'  said 
Agelastes  to  himself.  'Your  demands,  sir  knight,  are 
over-peremptory,  and  imposed  under  too  rigid  con- 
ditions, to  be  replied  to  by  those  who  can  evade  them.' 

He  changed  the  conversation,  accordingly,  with  easy 
dexterity;  and  they  had  not  proceeded  much  farther, 
before  they  reached  a  spot  the  natural  beauties  of  which 
called  forth  the  admiration  of  his  foreign  companions. 
A  copious  brook,  gushing  out  of  the  woodland,  descended 
to  the  sea  with  no  small  noise  and  tumult;  and,  as  if  dis- 
daining a  quieter  course,  which  it  might  have  gained  by 
a  little  circuit  to  the  right,  it  took  the  readiest  road  to 
the  ocean,  plunging  over  the  face  of  a  lofty  and  barren 
precipice  which  overhung  the  sea-shore,  and  from  thence 
led  its  little  tribute,  with  as  much  noise  as  if  it  had  the 

211 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

stream  of  a  full  river  to  boast  of,  to  the  waters  of  the 
Hellespont. 

The  rock,  we  have  said,  was  bare,  unless  in  so  far  as  it 
was  clothed  with  the  foaming  waters  of  the  cataract; 
but  the  banks  on  each  side  were  covered  with  plane-trees, 
walnut-trees,  cypresses,  and  other  kinds  of  large  timber 
proper  to  the  East.  The  fall  of  water,  always  agreeable 
in  a  warm  climate,  and  generally  produced  by  arti- 
ficial means,  was  here  natural,  and  had  been  chosen, 
something  like  the  Sibyl's  temple  at  Tivoli,  for  the  seat 
of  a  goddess  to  whom  the  invention  of  polytheism  had 
assigned  a  sovereignty  over  the  department  around.  The 
shrine  was  small  and  circular,  like  many  of  the  lesser 
temples  of  the  rustic  deities,  and  inclosed  by  the  wall  of 
an  outer  court.  After  its  desecration,  it  had  probably 
been  converted  into  a  luxurious  summer  retreat  by  Age- 
lastes,  or  some  Epicurean  philosopher.  As  the  building, 
itself  of  a  light,  airy,  and  fantastic  character,  was  dimly 
seen  through  the  branches  and  foliage  on  the  edge  of 
the  rock,  so  the  mode  by  which  it  was  accessible  was  not 
at  first  apparent  amongst  the  mist  of  the  cascade.  A 
pathway,  a  good  deal  hidden  by  vegetation,  ascended 
by  a  gentle  acclivity,  and,  prolonged  by  the  architect 
by  means  of  a  few  broad  and  easy  marble  steps,  making 
part  of  the  original  approach,  conducted  the  passenger  to 
a  small,  but  exquisitely  lovely,  velvet  lawn  in  front  of  the 
turret  or  temple  we  have  described,  the  back  part  of 
which  building  overhung  the  cataract. 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  parties  met.  The  wily,  wordy  Greek, 
Weighing  each  word,  and  canvassing  each  syllable, 
Evading,  arguing,  equivocating; 
And  the  stern  Frank  came  with  his  two-hand  sword 
Watching  to  see  which  way  the  balance  sways, 
That  he  may  throw  it  in,  and  turn  the  scales. 

Palestine. 

At  a  signal  made  by  Agelastes,  the  door  of  this  romantic 
retreat  was  opened  by  Diogenes,  the  negro  slave,  to 
whom  our  readers  have  been  already  introduced;  nor  did 
it  escape  the  wily  old  man  that  the  Count  and  his  lady 
testified  some  wonder  at  his  form  and  lineaments,  being 
the  first  African  perhaps  whom  they  had  ever  seen  so 
closely.  The  philosopher  lost  not  the  opportunity  of 
making  an  impression  on  their  minds,  by  a  display  of 
the  superiority  of  his  knowledge. 

'This  poor  being,'  he  observed,  'is  of  the  race  of 
Ham,  the  undutiful  son  of  Noah;  for  his  transgressions 
against  his  parent,  he  was  banished  to  the  sands  of 
Africa,  and  was  condemned  to  be  the  father  of  a  race 
doomed  to  be  the  slaves  of  the  issue  of  his  more  dutiful 
brethren.' 

The  knight  and  his  lady  gazed  on  the  wonderful  ap- 
pearance before  them,  and  did  not,  it  may  be  believed, 
think  of  doubting  the  information,  which  was  so  much  of 
a  piece  with  their  prejudices,  while  their  opinion  of  their 
host  was  greatly  augmented  by  the  supposed  extent  of 
his  knowledge. 

'It  gives  pleasure  to  a  man  of  humanity,'  continued 
213 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Agelastes,  'when,  in  old  age  or  sickness,  we  must  employ 
the  services  of  others,  which  is  at  other  times  scarce  law- 
ful, to  choose  his  assistants  out  of  a  race  of  beings,  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  from  their  birth  upwards 
destined  to  slavery;  and  to  whom,  therefore,  by  employ- 
ing them  as  slaves,  we  render  no  injury,  but  carry  into 
effect,  in  a  shght  degree,  the  intentions  of  the  Great  Being 
who  made  us  all.' 

'Are  there  many  of  a  race,'  said  the  Countess,  'so  sin- 
gularly unhappy  in  their  destination?  I  have  hitherto 
thought  the  stories  of  black  men  as  idle  as  those  which 
minstrels  tell  of  fairies  and  ghosts,' 

'Do  not  believe  so,'  said  the  philosopher;  'the  race  is 
numerous  as  the  sands  of  the  sea,  neither  are  they  alto- 
gether unhappy  in  discharging  the  duties  which  their 
fate  has  allotted  them.  Those  who  are  of  worse  character 
suffer  even  in  this  life  the  penance  due  to  their  guilt: 
they  become  the  slaves  of  the  cruel  and  tyrannical,  are 
beaten,  starved,  and  mutilated.  To  those  whose  moral 
characters  are  better,  better  masters  are  provided,  who 
share  with  their  slaves,  as  with  their  children,  food  and 
raiment,  and  the  other  good  things  which  they  them- 
selves enjoy.  To  some,  Heaven  allots  the  favour  of  kings 
and  of  conquerors,  and  to  a  few,  but  those  the  chief 
favourites  of  the  species,  hath  been  assigned  a  place  in 
the  mansions  of  philosophy,  where,  by  availing  them- 
selves of  the  lights  which  their  masters  can  afford,  they 
gain  a  prospect  into  that  world  which  is  the  residence 
of  true  happiness.' 

'Methinks  I  understand  you,'  replied  the  Countess, 
'and  if  so,  I  ought  rather  to  envy  our  sable  friend  here 
than  to  pity  him,  for  having  been  allotted  in  the  parti- 

214 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

tion  of  his  kind  to  the  possession  of  his  present  master, 
from  whom,  doubtless,  he  has  acquired  the  desirable 
knowledge  which  you  mention.' 

'He  learns,  at  least,'  said  Agelastes,  modestly,  *what 
I  can  teach,  and,  above  all,  to  be  contented  with  his 
situation.  Diogenes,  my  good  child,'  said  he,  changing 
his  address  to  the  slave,  *  thou  seest  I  have  company  — 
what  does  the  poor  hermit's  larder  afford,  with  which 
he  may  regale  his  honoured  guests? ' 

Hitherto  they  had  advanced  no  farther  than  a  sort  of 
outer  room,  or  hall  of  entrance,  fitted  up  with  no  more 
expense  than  might  have  suited  one  who  desired  at  some 
outlay,  and  more  taste,  to  avail  himself  of  the  ancient 
building  for  a  sequestered  and  private  retirement.  The 
chairs  and  couches  were  covered  with  Eastern  wove  mats, 
and  were  of  the  simplest  and  most  primitive  form.  But 
on  touching  a  spring,  an  interior  apartment  was  dis- 
played, which  had  considerable  pretension  to  splendour 
and  magnificence. 

The  furniture  and  hangings  of  this  apartment  were  of 
straw-coloured  silk,  wrought  on  the  looms  of  Persia, 
and  crossed  with  embroidery,  which  produced  a  rich  yet 
simple  effect.  The  ceiling  was  carved  in  arabesque,  and 
the  four  corners  of  the  apartment  were  formed  into  re- 
cesses for  statuary,  which  had  been  produced  in  a  better 
age  of  the  art  than  that  which  existed  at  the  period  of 
our  story.  In  one  nook  a  shepherd  seemed  to  withdraw 
himself,  as  if  ashamed  to  produce  his  scantily-covered 
person,  while  he  was  willing  to  afford  the  audience  the 
music  of  the  reed  which  he  held  in  his  hand.  Three  dam- 
sels, resembling  the  Graces  in  the  beautiful  proportions 
of  their  limbs,  and  the  slender  clothing  which  they  wore, 

215 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

lurked  in  different  attitudes,  each  in  her  own  niche,  and 
seemed  but  to  await  the  first  sound  of  the  music  to 
bound  forth  from  thence  and  join  in  the  froh'c  dance. 
The  subject  was  beautiful,  yet  somewhat  light,  to  orna- 
ment the  study  of  such  a  sage  as  Agelastes  represented 
himself  to  be. 

He  seemed  to  be  sensible  that  this  might  attract  obser- 
vation. 'These  figures,'  he  said,  'executed  at  the  period 
of  the  highest  excellence  of  Grecian  art,  were  considered 
of  old  as  the  choral  nymphs  assembled  to  adore  the  god- 
dess of  the  place,  waiting  but  the  music  to  join  in  the 
worship  of  the  temple.  And,  in  truth,  the  wisest  may  be 
interested  in  seeing  how  near  to  animation  the  genius  of 
these  wonderful  men  could  bring  the  inflexible  marble. 
Allow  but  for  the  absence  of  the  divine  afiiatus,  or  breath 
of  animation,  and  an  unenlightened  heathen  might  sup- 
pose the  miracle  of  Prometheus  was  about  to  be  realised. 
But  we,'  said  he,  looking  upwards,  'are  taught  to  form 
a  better  judgment  between  what  man  can  do  and  the 
productions  of  the  Deity.' 

Some  subjects  of  natural  history  were  painted  on  the 
walls,  and  the  philosopher  fixed  the  attention  of  his 
guests  upon  the  half-reasoning  elephant,  of  which  he 
mentioned  several  anecdotes,  which  they  listened  to  with 
great  eagerness. 

A  distant  strain  was  here  heard,  as  if  of  music  in  the 
woods,  penetrating  by  fits  through  the  hoarse  roar  of 
the  cascade,  which,  as  it  sunk  immediately  below  the 
windows,  filled  the  apartment  with  its  deep  voice. 

'Apparently,'  said  Agelastes,  'the  friends  whom  I  ex- 
pected are  approaching,  and  bring  with  them  the  means 
of  enchanting  another  sense.  It  is  well  they  do  so,  since 

216 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

wisdom  tells  us  that  we  best  honour  the  Deity  by  enjoy- 
ing the  gifts  he  has  provided  us.' 

These  words  called  the  attention  of  the  philosopher's 
Frankish  guests  to  the  preparations  exhibited  in  this 
tasteful  saloon.  These  were  made  for  an  entertainment 
in  the  manner  of  the  ancient  Romans,  and  couches, 
which  were  laid  beside  a  table  ready  decked,  aimounced 
that  the  male  guests,  at  least,  were  to  assist  at  the  ban- 
quet in  the  usual  recumbent  posture  of  the  ancients, 
while  seats,  placed  among  the  couches,  seemed  to  say 
that  females  were  expected,  who  would  observe  the  Gre- 
cian customs,  in  eating  seated.  The  preparations  for  good 
cheer  were  such  as,  though  Hmited  in  extent,  could 
scarce  be  excelled  in  quality,  either  by  the  splendid 
dishes  which  decked  Trimalchio's  banquet  of  former  days, 
or  the  lighter  delicacies  of  Grecian  cookery,  or  the  suc- 
culent and  highly-spiced  messes  indulged  in  by  the  na- 
tions of  the  East,  to  whichever  they  happened  to  give  the 
preference ;  and  it  was  with  an  air  of  some  vanity  that 
Agelastes  asked  his  guests  to  share  a  poor  pilgrim's  meal. 

*We  care  little  for  dainties,'  said  the  Count;  'nor  does 
our  present  course  of  life  as  pilgrims,  bound  by  a  vow, 
allow  us  much  choice  on  such  subjects.  Whatever  is 
food  for  soldiers  suffices  the  Countess  and  myself;  for, 
with  our  will,  we  would  at  every  hour  be  ready  for  battle, 
and  the  less  time  we  use  in  preparing  for  the  field,  it  is 
even  so  much  the  better.  Sit  then,  Brenhilda,  since  the 
good  man  will  have  it  so,  and  let  us  lose  no  time  in  re- 
freshment, lest  we  waste  that  which  should  be  otherwise 
employed.' 

*A  moment's  forgiveness,'  said  Agelastes,  'until  the 
arrival  of  my  other  friends,  whose  music  you  may  now 

217 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

hear  is  close  at  hand,  and  who  will  not  long,  I  may 
safely  promise,  divide  you  from  your  meal.' 

'For  that,'  said  the  Count,  'there  is  no  haste;  and 
since  you  seem  to  account  it  a  part  of  civil  manners, 
Brenhilda  and  I  can  with  ease  postpone  our  repast; 
unless  you  will  permit  us,  what  I  own  would  be  more 
pleasing,  to  take  a  morsel  of  bread  and  a  cup  of  water 
presently,  and,  thus  refreshed,  to  leave  the  space  clear 
for  your  more  curious  and  more  familiar  guests? ' 

'The  saints  above  forbid!'  said  Agelastes.  'Guests 
so  honoured  never  before  pressed  these  cushions,  nor 
could  do  so,  if  the  sacred  family  of  the  imperial  Alexius 
himseK  even  now  stood  at  the  gate.' 

He  had  hardly  uttered  these  words,  when  the  full- 
blown peal  of  a  trumpet,  louder  in  a  tenfold  degree  than 
the  strains  of  music  they  had  before  heard,  was  now 
sounded  in  the  front  of  the  temple,  piercing  through  the 
murmur  of  the  waterfall,  as  a  Damascus  blade  penetrates 
the  armour,  and  assailing  the  ears  of  the  hearers,  as  the 
sword  pierces  the  flesh  of  him  who  wears  the  harness. 

'You  seem  surprised  or  alarmed,  father,'  said  Count 
Robert.  '  Is  there  danger  near,  and  do  you  distrust  our 
protection? ' 

'No,'  said  Agelastes,  'that  would  give  me  confidence 
in  any  extremity;  but  these  sounds  excite  awe,  not  fear. 
They  tell  me  that  some  of  the  imperial  family  are  about 
to  be  my  guests.  Yet  fear  nothing,  my  noble  friends; 
they,  whose  look  is  life,  are  ready  to  shower  their  favours 
with  profusion  upon  strangers  so  worthy  of  honour  as 
they  will  see  here.  Meantime,  my  brow  must  touch  my 
threshold  in  order  duly  to  welcome  them.'  So  saying,  he 
hurried  to  the  outer  door  of  the  building. 

218 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

*Each  land  has  its  customs,'  said  the  Count,  as  he 
followed  his  host,  with  his  wife  hanging  on  his  arm; ' but, 
Brenhilda,  as  they  are  so  various,  it  is  Httle  wonder  that 
they  appear  unseemly  to  each  other.  Here,  however,  in 
deference  to  my  entertainer,  I  stoop  my  crest,  in  the 
manner  which  seems  to  be  required.'  So  saying,  he  fol- 
lowed Agelastes  into  the  ante-room,  where  a  new  scene 
awaited  them. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Agelastes  gained  his  threshold  before  Count  Robert  of 
Paris  and  his  lady.  He  had,  therefore,  time  to  make  his 
prostrations  before  a  huge  animal,  then  unknown  to  the 
Western  world,  but  now  universally  distinguished  as  the 
elephant.  On  its  back  was  a  pavihon,  or  palanquin, 
within  which  were  enclosed  the  august  persons  of  the 
Empress  Irene  and  her  daughter  Anna  Comnena,  Ni- 
cephorus  Briennius  attended  the  princesses  in  the  com- 
mand of  a  gallant  body  of  light  horse,  whose  splendid 
armour  would  have  given  more  pleasure  to  the  crusader 
if  it  had  possessed  less  an  air  of  useless  wealth  and  efifemi- 
nate  magnificence.  But  the  effect  which  it  produced  in 
its  appearance  was  as  brilliant  as  could  well  be  conceived. 
The  officers  alone  of  this  corps  de  garde  followed  Niceph- 
orus  to  the  platform,  prostrated  themselves  while  the 
ladies  of  the  imperial  house  descended,  and  rose  up  again 
under  a  cloud  of  waving  plumes  and  flashing  lances 
when  they  stood  secure  upon  the  platform  in  front  of  the 
building.  Here  the  somewhat  aged,  but  commanding, 
form  of  the  Empress,  and  the  still  juvenile  beauties  of 
the  fair  historian,  were  seen  to  great  advantage.  In 
the  front  of  a  deep  background  of  spears  and  waving 
crests  stood  the  sounder  of  the  sacred  trumpet,  conspicu- 
ous by  his  size  and  the  richness  of  his  apparel;  he  kept  his 
post  on  a  rock  above  the  stone  staircase,  and,  by  an  oc- 
casional note  of  his  instrument,  intimated  to  the  squad- 
rons beneath  that  they  should  stay  their  progress,  and 

220 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

attend  the  motions  of  the  Empress  and  the  wife  of  the 
Cassar. 

The  fair  form  of  the  Countess  Brenhilda,  and  the  fan- 
tastic appearance  of  her  half-mascuUne  garb,  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  ladies  of  Alexius's  family,  but  was 
too  extraordinary  to  command  their  admiration.  Age- 
lastes  became  sensible  there  was  a  necessity  that  he 
should  introduce  his  guests  to  each  other,  if  he  desired 
they  should  meet  on  satisfactory  terms.  'May  I  speak,' 
he  said,  'and  live?  The  armed  strangers  whom  you 
find  now  with  me  are  worthy  companions  of  those 
myriads  whom  zeal  for  the  suffering  inhabitants  of 
Palestine  has  brought  from  the  western  extremity  of 
Europe,  at  once  to  enjoy  the  countenance  of  Alexius 
Comnenus  and  to  aid  him,  since  it  pleases  him  to 
accept  their  assistance,  in  expelling  the  paynims  from 
the  bounds  of  the  sacred  empire,  and  garrison  those 
regions  in  their  stead  as  vassals  of  his  Imperial  Maj- 
esty.' 

*  We  are  pleased,'  said  the  Empress,  'worthy  Agelastes, 
that  you  should  be  kind  to  those  who  are  disposed  to  be 
so  reverent  to  the  Emperor.  And  we  are  rather  disposed 
to  talk  with  them  ourselves,  that  our  daughter,  whom 
Apollo  hath  gifted  with  the  choice  talent  of  recording 
what  she  sees,  may  become  acquainted  with  one  of 
those  female  warriors  of  the  West  of  whom  we  have 
heard  so  much  by  common  fame,  and  yet  know  so  little 
with  certainty.' 

'Madam,'  said  the  Count,  'I  can  but  rudely  express 
to  you  what  I  have  to  find  fault  with  in  the  explanation 
which  this  old  man  hath  given  of  our  purpose  in  coming 
hither.   Certain  it  is,  we  neither  owe  Alexius  fealty  nor 

221 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

had  we  the  purpose  of  paying  him  any,  when  we  took 
the  vow  upon  ourselves  which  brought  us  against  Asia. 
We  came,  because  we  understood  that  the  Holy  Land 
had  been  torn  from  the  Greek  Emperor  by  the  Pagans, 
Saracens,  Turks,  and  other  infidels  from  whom  we  are 
come  to  win  it  back.  The  wisest  and  most  prudent 
among  us  have  judged  it  necessary  to  acknowledge  the 
Emperor's  authority,  since  there  was  no  such  safe  way 
of  passing  to  the  discharge  of  our  vow  as  that  of  acknowl- 
edging fealty  to  him,  as  the  best  mode  of  preventing 
quarrels  among  Christian  states.  We,  though  independ- 
ent of  any  earthly  king,  do  not  pretend  to  be  greater 
men  than  they,  and  therefore  have  condescended  to  pay 
the  same  homage.' 

The  Empress  coloured  several  times  with  indignation 
in  the  course  of  this  speech,  which,  in  more  passages  than 
one,  was  at  variance  with  those  imperial  maxims  of  the 
Grecian  court  which  held  its  dignity  so  high,  and  plainly 
intimated  a  tone  of  opinion  which  was  depreciating  to 
the  Emperor's  power.  But  the  Empress  Irene  had  re- 
ceived instructions  from  her  imperial  spouse  to  beware 
how  she  gave,  or  even  took,  any  ground  of  quarrel  with 
the  crusaders,  who,  though  coming  in  the  appearance 
of  subjects,  were,  nevertheless,  too  punctihous  and  ready 
to  take  fire  to  render  them  safe  discussers  of  dehcate  dif- 
ferences. She  made  a  graceful  reverence  accordingly,  as 
if  she  had  scarce  understood  what  the  Count  of  Paris 
had  explained  so  bluntly. 

At  this  moment  the  appearance  of  the  principal  per- 
sons on  either  hand  attracted,  in  a  wonderful  degree,  the 
attention  of  the  other  party,  and  there  seemed  to  exist 
among  them  a  general  desire  of  further  acquaintance, 

222 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and,  at  the  same  time,  a  manifest  difficulty  in  expressing 
such  a  wish. 

Agelastes  —  to  begin  with  the  master  of  the  house  — 
had  risen  from  the  ground  indeed,  but  without  venturing 
to  assume  an  upright  posture:  he  remained  before  the 
imperial  ladies  with  his  body  and  head  still  bent,  his  hand 
interposed  between  his  eyes  and  their  faces,  like  a  man 
that  would  shade  his  eyesight  from  the  level  sun,  and 
awaited  in  silence  the  commands  of  those  to  whom  he 
seemed  to  think  it  disrespectful  to  propose  the  slightest 
action,  save  by  testifying  in  general  that  his  house  and  his 
slaves  were  at  their  unlimited  command.  The  Countess 
of  Paris,  on  the  other  hand,  and  her  warlike  husband, 
were  the  peculiar  objects  of  curiosity  to  Irene  and  her 
accomplished  daughter,  Anna  Comnena;  and  it  occurred 
to  both  these  imperial  ladies  that  they  had  never  seen 
finer  specimens  of  human  strength  and  beauty;  but, 
by  a  natural  instinct,  they  preferred  the  manly  bearing 
of  the  husband  to  that  of  the  wife,  which  seemed  to 
her  own  sex  rather  too  haughty  and  too  masculine  to  be 
altogether  pleasing. 

Count  Robert  and  his  lady  had  also  their  own  object 
of  attention  in  the  newly  arrived  group,  and,  to  speak 
truth,  it  was  nothing  else  than  the  peculiarities  of  the 
monstrous  animal  which  they  now  saw,  for  the  first  time, 
employed  as  a  beast  of  burden  in  the  service  of  the  fair 
Irene  and  her  daughter.  The  dignity  and  splendour  of 
the  elder  princess,  the  grace  and  vivacity  of  the  younger, 
were  alike  lost  in  Brenhilda's  earnest  inquiries  into  the 
history  of  the  elephant,  and  the  use  which  it  made  of  its 
trunk,  tusks,  and  huge  ears,  upon  different  occasions. 

Another  person  who  took  a  less  direct  opportunity  to 
223 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

gaze  on  Brenhilda  with  a  deep  degree  of  interest  was  the 
Caesar,  Nicephorus.  This  prince  kept  his  eye  as  steadily 
upon  the  Frankish  countess  as  he  could  well  do  without 
attracting  the  attention,  and  exciting  perhaps  the  sus- 
picions, of  his  wife  and  mother-in-law;  he  therefore  en- 
deavoured to  restore  speech  to  an  interview  which  would 
have  been  awkward  without  it.  *It  is  possible,'  he  said, 
'beautiful  countess,  that,  this  being  your  first  visit  to 
the  Queen  of  the  World,  you  have  never  hitherto  seen 
the  singularly  curious  animal  called  the  elephant.' 

'Pardon  me,'  said  the  Countess,  *I  have  been  treated 
by  this  learned  gentleman  to  a  sight  and  some  account 
of  that  wonderful  creature.' 

By  all  who  heard  this  observation,  the  Lady  Bren- 
hilda was  supposed  to  have  made  a  satirical  thrust  at 
the  philosopher  himself,  who,  in  the  imperial  court,  usu- 
ally went  by  the  name  of  the  Elephant. 

'No  one  could  describe  the  beast  more  accurately 
than  Agelastes,'  said  the  Princess,  with  a  smile  of  intelli- 
gence, which  went  round  her  attendants. 

'He  knows  its  docility,  its  sensibility,  and  its  fidelity,' 
said  the  philosopher  in  a  subdued  tone. 

'True,  good  Agelastes,'  said  the  Princess;  'we  should 
not  criticise  the  animal  which  kneels  to  take  us  up. 
Come,  lady  of  a  foreign  land,'  she  continued,  turning 
to  the  Frank  count,  and  especially  his  countess,  'and 
you  her  gallant  lord !  When  you  return  to  your  native 
country,  you  shall  say  you  have  seen  the  imperial  family 
partake  of  their  food,  and  in  so  far  acknowledge  them- 
selves to  be  of  the  same  clay  with  other  mortals,  sharing 
their  poorest  wants,  and  relieving  them  in  the  same 
maimer.' 

224 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'That,  gentle  lady,  I  can  well  believe,'  said  Count 
Robert;  'my  curiosity  would  be  more  indulged  by  seeing 
this  strange  animal  at  his  food.' 

'You  will  see  the  elephant  more  conveniently  at  his 
mess  within  doors,'  answered  the  Princess,  looking  at 
Agelastes. 

'Lady,'  said  Brenhilda,  'I  would  not  willingly  refuse 
an  invitation  given  in  courtesy,  but  the  sun  has  waxed 
low  unnoticed,  and  we  must  return  to  the  city.' 

'Be  not  afraid,'  said  the  fair  historian:  'you  shall  have 
the  advantage  of  our  imperial  escort  to  protect  you  in 
your  return.' 

'Fear  —  afraid  —  escort  —  protect!  These  are  words 
I  know  not.  Know,  lady,  that  my  husband,  the  noble 
Count  of  Paris,  is  my  sufficient  escort;  and  even  were  he 
not  with  me,  Brenhilda  de  Aspramonte  fears  nothing, 
and  can  defend  herself.' 

'Fair  daughter,'  said  Agelastes,  'if  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  speak,  you  mistake  the  gracious  intentions  of 
the  Princess,  who  expresses  herself  as  to  a  lady  of  her 
own  land.  What  she  desires  is  to  learn  from  you  some  of 
the  most  marked  habits  and  manners  of  the  Franks,  of 
which  you  are  so  beautiful  an  example;  and  in  return  for 
such  information  the  illustrious  princess  would  be  glad 
to  procure  your  entrance  to  those  spacious  collections 
where  animals  from  all  corners  of  the  habitable  world 
have  been  assembled  at  the  command  of  our  Emperor 
Alexius,  as  if  to  satisfy  the  wisdom  of  those  sages  to 
whom  all  creation  is  known,  from  the  deer  so  small  in 
size  that  it  is  exceeded  by  an  ordinary  rat  to  that  huge 
and  singular  inhabitant  of  Africa  that  can  browse  on  the 
tops  of  trees  that  are  forty  feet  high,  while  the  length  of 
43  225 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

its  hind  legs  does  not  exceed  the  half  of  that  wondrous 
height.' 

'  It  is  enough/  said  the  Countess,  with  some  eagerness; 
but  Agelastes  had  got  a  point  of  discussion  after  his 
own  mind. 

'There  is  also/  he  said,  'that  huge  lizard,  which,  re- 
sembling in  shape  the  harmless  inhabitant  of  the  moors 
of  other  countries,  is  in  Egypt  a  monster  thirty  feet  in 
length,  clothed  in  impenetrable  scales,  and  moaning 
over  his  prey  when  he  catches  it,  with  the  hope  and 
purpose  of  drawing  others  within  his  danger,  by  mimick- 
ing the  lamentations  of  humanity.' 

'Say  no  more,  father!'  exclaimed  the  lady.  'My 
Robert,  we  will  go,  will  we  not,  where  such  objects  are 
to  be  seen?' 

'There  is  also,'  said  Agelastes,  who  saw  that  he  would 
gain  his  point  by  addressing  himself  to  the  curiosity  of 
the  strangers,  'the  huge  animal,  wearing  on  its  back  an 
invulnerable  vestment,  having  on  its  nose  a  horn,  and 
sometimes  two,  the  folds  of  whose  hide  are  of  the  most 
immense  thickness,  and  which  never  knight  was  able  to 
wound.' 

'We  will  go,  Robert,  will  we  not?'  reiterated  the 
Countess. 

'Ay,'  rephed  the  Count,  'and  teach  these  Easterns 
how  to  judge  of  a  knight's  sword  by  a  single  blow  of  my 
trusty  Tranchefer.' 

'And  who  knows,'  said  Brenhilda,  'since  this  is  a  land 
of  enchantment,  but  what  some  person,  who  is  languish- 
ing in  a  foreign  shape,  may  have  their  enchantment  unex- 
pectedly dissolved  by  a  stroke  of  the  good  weapon?' 

'  Say  no  more,  father ! '  exclaimed  the  Count.  '  We  will 
226 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

attend  this  princess,  since  such  she  is,  were  her  whole 
escort  bent  to  oppose  our  passage,  instead  of  being  by 
her  command  to  be  our  guard.  For  know,  all  who  hear 
me,  thus  much  of  the  nature  of  the  Franks,  that,  when 
you  tell  us  of  danger  and  difficulties,  you  give  us  the  same 
desire  to  travel  the  road  where  they  lie  as  other  men 
have  in  seeking  either  pleasure  or  profit  in  the  paths  in 
which  such  are  to  be  found.' 

As  the  Count  pronounced  these  words,  he  struck  his 
hand  upon  his  Tranchefer,  as  an  illustration  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  purposed  upon  occasion  to  make  good  his 
way.  The  courtly  circle  startled  somewhat  at  the  clash 
of  steel  and  the  fiery  look  of  the  chivalrous  Count  Robert. 
The  Empress  indulged  her  alarm  by  retreating  into  the 
inner  apartment  of  the  pavilion. 

With  a  grace  which  was  rarely  deigned  to  any  but  those 
in  close  alliance  with  the  imperial  family,  Anna  Com- 
nena  took  the  arm  of  the  noble  count.  *  I  see,'  she  said, 
*  that  the  imperial  mother  has  honoured  the  house  of  the 
learned  Agelastes  by  leading  the  way;  therefore,  to 
teach  you  Grecian  breeding  must  fall  to  my  share.'  Say- 
ing this,  she  conducted  him  to  the  inner  apartment. 

'  Fear  not  for  your  wife,'  she  said,  as  she  noticed  the 
Frank  look  round:  'our  husband,  like  ourselves,  has 
pleasure  in  showing  attention  to  the  stranger,  and  will 
lead  the  Countess  to  our  board.  It  is  not  the  custom  of 
the  imperial  family  to  eat  in  company  with  strangers; 
but  we  thank  Heaven  for  having  instructed  us  in  that 
civility  which  can  know  no  degradation  in  dispensing 
with  ordinary  rules  to  do  honour  to  strangers  of  such 
merit  as  yours.  I  know  it  will  be  my  mother's  request 
that  you  will  take  your  places  without  ceremony ;  and 

227 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

also,  although  the  grace  be  somewhat  particular,  I  am 
sure  that  it  will  have  my  imperial  father's  approbation.' 

'Be  it  as  your  ladyship  lists,'  said  Count  Robert. 
'There  are  few  men  to  whom  I  would  yield  place  at  the 
board,  if  they  had  not  gone  before  me  in  the  battle-field. 
To  a  lady,  especially  so  fair  a  one,  I  wilHngly  yield  my 
place  and  bend  my  knee,  whenever  I  have  the  good  hap 
to  meet  her.' 

The  Princess  Anna,  instead  of  feeling  herself  awkward 
in  the  discharge  of  the  extraordinary,  and,  as  she  might 
have  thought  it,  degrading,  office  of  ushering  a  barbarian 
chief  to  the  banquet,  felt,  on  the  contrary,  flattered  at 
having  bent  to  her  purpose  a  heart  so  obstinate  as  that  of 
Count  Robert,  and  elated,  perhaps,  with  a  certain  degree 
of  satisfied  pride  while  under  his  momentary  protec- 
tion. 

The  Empress  Irene  had  already  seated  herself  at  the 
head  of  the  table.  She  looked  with  some  astonishment 
when  her  daughter  and  son-in-law,  taking  their  seats 
at  her  right  and  left  hand,  invited  the  Count  and  Count- 
ess of  Paris,  the  former  to  rechne,  the  latter  to  sit  at  the 
board,  in  the  places  next  to  themselves;  but  she  had 
received  the  strictest  orders  from  her  husband  to  be 
deferential  in  every  respect  to  the  strangers,  and  did 
not  think  it  right,  therefore,  to  interpose  any  ceremonious 
scruples. 

The  Countess  took  her  seat,  as  indicated,  beside  the 
Caesar;  and  the  Count,  instead  of  reclining  in  the  mode 
of  the  Grecian  men,  also  seated  himself  in  the  European 
fashion  by  the  Princess. 

*I  will  not  lie  prostrate,'  said  he,  laughing,  'except  in 
consideration  of  a  blow  weighty  enough  to  compel  me 

228 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

to  do  so ;  nor  then  either,  if  I  am  able  to  start  up  and 
return  it.' 

The  service  of  the  table  then  began,  and,  to  say  truth, 
it  appeared  to  be  an  important  part  of  the  business  of 
the  day.  The  officers  who  attended  to  perform  their  sev- 
eral duties  of  deckers  of  the  table,  sewers  of  the  banquet, 
removers  and  tasters  to  the  imperial  family,  thronged 
into  the  banqueting-room,  and  seemed  to  vie  with  each 
other  in  calHng  upon  Agelastes  for  spices,  condiments, 
sauces,  and  wines  of  various  kinds,  the  variety  and  mul- 
tiplicity of  their  demands  being  apparently  devised,  ex 
preposito,  for  stirring  the  patience  of  the  philosopher.  But 
Agelastes,  who  had  anticipated  most  of  their  requests, 
however  unusual,  supplied  them  completely,  or  in  the 
greatest  part,  by  the  ready  agency  of  his  active  slave 
Diogenes,  to  whom,  at  the  same  time,  he  contrived  to 
transfer  all  blame  for  the  absence  of  such  articles  as  he 
was  unable  to  provide. 

'Be  Homer  my  witness,  the  accomplished  Virgil,  and 
the  curious  felicity  of  Horace,  that,  trifling  and  un- 
worthy as  this  banquet  was,  my  note  of  directions  to  this 
thrice-unhappy  slave  gave  the  instructions  to  procure 
every  ingredient  necessary  to  convey  to  each  dish  its 
proper  gusto.  Ill-omened  carrion  that  thou  art,  where- 
fore placedst  thou  the  pickled  cucumber  so  far  apart 
from  the  boar's  head,  and  why  are  these  superb  congers 
unprovided  with  a  requisite  quantity  of  fennel?  The 
divorce  betwixt  the  shell-fish  and  the  Chian  wine,  in  a 
presence  like  this,  is  worthy  of  the  divorce  of  thine  own 
soul  from  thy  body;  or,  to  say  the  least,  of  a  Hfe-long 
residence  in  the  pistrinumJ  While  thus  the  philosopher 
proceeded  with  threats,  curses,  and  menaces  against  his 

229 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

slave,  the  stranger  might  have  an  opportunity  of  com- 
paring the  little  torrent  of  his  domestic  eloquence,  which 
the  manners  of  the  times  did  not  consider  as  ill-bred, 
with  the  louder  and  deeper  share  of  adulation  towards 
his  guests.  They  mingled  like  the  oil  with  the  vinegar 
and  pickles  which  Diogenes  mixed  for  the  sauce.  Thus 
the  Count  and  Countess  had  an  opportunity  to  estimate 
the  happiness  and  the  felicity  reserved  for  those  slaves 
whom  the  omnipotent  Jupiter,  in  the  plenitude  of  com- 
passion for  their  state,  and  in  guerdon  of  their  good 
morals,  had  dedicated  to  the  service  of  a  philosopher. 
The  share  they  themselves  took  in  the  banquet  was 
finished  with  a  degree  of  speed  which  gave  surprise  not 
only  to  their  host,  but  also  to  the  imperial  guests. 

The  Count  helped  himself  carelessly  out  of  a  dish 
which  stood  near  him,  and  partaking  of  a  draught  of 
wine,  without  inquiring  whether  it  was  of  the  vintage 
which  the  Greeks  held  it  matter  of  conscience  to  mingle 
with  that  species  of  food,  he  declared  himself  satisfied; 
nor  could  the  obliging  entreaties  of  his  neighbour,  Anna 
Comnena,  induce  him  to  partake  of  other  messes  repre- 
sented as  being  either  delicacies  or  curiosities.  His 
spouse  eat  still  more  moderately  of  the  food  which 
seemed  most  simply  cooked,  and  stood  nearest  her  at  the 
board,  and  partook  of  a  cup  of  crystal  water,  which  she 
slightly  tinged  with  wine,  at  the  persevering  entreaty 
of  the  Caesar.  They  then  relinquished  the  further  business 
of  the  banquet,  and,  leaning  back  upon  their  seats,  occu- 
pied themselves  in  watching  the  liberal  credit  done  to  the 
feast  by  the  rest  of  the  guests  present. 

A  modern  synod  of  gourmands  would  hardly  have 
equalled  the  imperial  family  of  Greece  seated  at  a  philo- 

230 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

sophlcal  banquet,  whether  in  the  critical  knowledge  dis- 
played of  the  science  of  eating  in  all  its  branches  or  in  the 
practical  cost  and  patience  with  which  they  exercised  it; 
the  ladies,  indeed,  did  not  eat  much  of  any  one  dish,  but 
they  tasted  of  almost  all  that  were  presented  to  them, 
and  their  name  was  legion.  Yet,  after  a  short  time,  in 
Homeric  phrase,  the  rage  of  thirst  and  hunger  was  as- 
suaged, or,  more  probably,  the  Princess  Anna  Comnena 
was  tired  of  being  an  object  of  some  inattention  to  the 
guest  who  sat  next  her,  and  who,  joining  his  high  mili- 
tary character  to  his  very  handsome  presence,  was  a  per- 
son by  whom  few  ladies  would  willingly  be  neglected. 
There  is  no  new  guise,  says  our  father  Chaucer,  but  what 
resembles  an  old  one ;  and  the  address  of  Anna  Comnena 
to  the  Frankish  count  might  resemble  that  of  a  modern 
lady  of  fashion  in  her  attempts  to  engage  in  conversation 
the  exquisite  who  sits  by  her  side  in  an  apparently  absent 
fit.  *We  have  piped  unto  you,'  said  the  Princess,  'and 
you  have  not  danced.  We  have  sung  to  you  the  jovial 
chorus  of  Evoe,  evoe,  and  you  will  neither  worship  Comus 
nor  Bacchus.  Are  we  then  to  judge  you  a  follower  of 
the  Muses,  in  whose  service,  as  well  as  in  that  of  Phoebus, 
we  ourselves  pretend  to  be  enlisted? ' 

'Fair  lady,'  replied  the  Frank,  'be  not  offended  at  my 
stating  once  for  all,  in  plain  terms,  that  I  am  a  Christian 
man,  spitting  at  and  bidding  defiance  to  Apollo,  Bacchus, 
Comus,  and  all  other  heathen  deities  whatsoever.' 

'O!  cruel  interpretation  of  my  unwary  words!'  said 
the  Princess.  'I  did  but  mention  the  gods  of  music, 
poetry,  and  eloquence,  worshipped  by  our  divine  philos- 
ophers, and  whose  names  are  still  used  to  distinguish 
the  arts  and  sciences  over  which  they  presided,  and  the 

231 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Count  interprets  it  seriously  into  a  breach  of  the  Second 
Commandment!  Our  Lady  preserve  me,  we  must  take 
care  how  we  speak,  when  our  words  are  so  sharply 
interpreted.' 

The  Count  laughed  as  the  Princess  spoke.  *I  had  no 
offensive  meaning,  madam,'  he  said,  'nor  would  I  wish 
to  interpret  your  words  otherwise  than  as  being  most  in- 
nocent and  praiseworthy .  I  shall  suppose  that  your  speech 
contained  all  that  was  fair  and  blameless.  You  are,  I 
have  understood,  one  of  those  who,  like  our  worthy  host, 
express  in  composition  the  history  and  feats  of  the  war- 
like time  in  which  you  live,  and  give  to  the  posterity 
which  shall  succeed  us  the  knowledge  of  the  brave  deeds 
which  have  been  achieved  in  our  day.  I  respect  the  task 
to  which  you  have  dedicated  yourself,  and  know  not 
how  a  lady  could  lay  after  ages  under  an  obligation  to 
her  in  the  same  degree,  unless,  like  my  wife,  Brenhilda, 
she  were  herself  to  be  the  actress  of  deeds  which  she 
recorded.  And,  by  the  way,  she  now  looks  towards  her 
neighbour  at  the  table  as  if  she  were  about  to  rise  and 
leave  him ;  her  inclinations  are  towards  Constantinople, 
and,  with  your  ladyship's  permission,  I  cannot  allow  her 
to  go  thither  alone.' 

'That  you  shall  neither  of  you  do,'  said  Anna  Com- 
nena;  'since  we  all  go  to  the  capital  directly,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  those  wonders  of  nature  of  which 
numerous  examples  have  been  collected  by  the  splen- 
dour of  my  imperial  father.  If  my  husband  seems  to 
have  given  offence  to  the  Countess,  do  not  suppose  that 
it  was  intentionally  dealt  to  her;  on  the  contrary,  you 
will  find  the  good  man,  when  you  are  better  acquainted 
with  him,  to  be  one  of  those  simple  persons  who  manage 

232 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

so  unhappily  what  they  mean  for  civilities,  that  those 
to  whom  they  are  addressed  receive  them  frequently  in 
another  sense.' 

The  Countess  of  Paris,  however,  refused  again  to  sit 
down  to  the  table  from  which  she  had  risen,  so  that 
Agelastes  and  his  imperial  guests  saw  themselves  under 
the  necessity  either  to  permit  the  strangers  to  depart, 
which  they  seemed  unwilling  to  do;  or  to  detain  them  by 
force,  to  attempt  which  might  not  perhaps  have  been 
either  safe  or  pleasant;  or,  lastly,  to  have  waived  the 
etiquette  of  rank,  and  set  out  along  with  them,  at  the 
same  time  managing  their  dignity  so  as  to  take  the 
initiatory  step,  though  the  departure  took  place  upon 
the  motion  of  their  wilful  guests.  Much  timiult  there 
was  —  bustling,  disputing,  and  shouting  —  among  the 
troops  and  officers  who  were  thus  moved  from  their  re- 
past two  hours  at  least  sooner  than  had  been  experienced 
upon  similar  occasions  in  the  memory  of  the  oldest 
among  them.  A  different  arrangement  of  the  imperial 
party  likewise  seemed  to  take  place  by  mutual  consent. 

Nicephorus  Briennius  ascended  the  seat  upon  the 
elephant,  and  remained  there  placed  beside  his  august 
mother-in-law.  Agelastes,  on  a  sober-minded  palfrey, 
which  permitted  him  to  prolong  his  philosophical 
harangues  at  his  own  pleasure,  rode  beside  the  Countess 
Brenhilda,  whom  he  made  the  principal  object  of  his 
oratory.  The  fair  historian,  though  she  usually  travelled 
in  a  litter,  preferred  upon  this  occasion  a  spirited  horse, 
which  enabled  her  to  keep  pace  with  Count  Robert 
of  Paris,  on  whose  imagination,  if  not  his  feelings,  she 
seemed  to  have  it  in  view  to  work  a  marked  impression. 
The  conversation  of  the  Empress  with  her  son-in-law 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

requires  no  special  detail.  It  was  a  tissue  of  criticisms 
upon  the  manners  and  behaviour  of  the  Franks,  and  a 
hearty  wish  that  they  might  be  soon  transported  from 
the  realms  of  Greece,  never  more  to  return.  Such  was 
at  least  the  tone  of  the  Empress,  nor  did  the  Cassar  find 
it  convenient  to  express  any  more  tolerant  opinion  of  the 
strangers.  On  the  other  hand,  Agelastes  made  a  long 
circuit  ere  he  ventured  to  approach  the  subject  which  he 
wished  to  introduce.  He  spoke  of  the  menagerie  of  the 
Emperor  as  a  most  superb  collection  of  natural  history; 
he  extolled  different  persons  at  court  for  having  encour- 
aged Alexius  Comnenus  in  this  wise  and  philosophical 
amusement;  but,  finally,  the  praise  of  all  others  was 
abandoned  that  the  philosopher  might  dwell  upon  that 
of  Nicephorus  Briennius,  to  whom  the  cabinet  or  collec- 
tion of  Constantinople  was  indebted,  he  said,  for  the 
principal  treasures  it  contained. 

*I  am  glad  it  is  so,'  said  the  haughty  countess,  without 
lowering  her  voice  or  affecting  any  change  of  manner  — 
*  I  am  glad  that  he  understands  some  things  better  worth 
understanding  than  whispering  with  stranger  young 
women.  Credit  me,  if  he  gives  much  license  to  his  tongue 
among  such  women  of  my  country  as  these  stirring  times 
may  bring  hither,  some  one  or  other  of  them  will  fling 
him  into  the  cataract  which  dashes  below.' 

'Pardon  me,  fair  lady,'  said  Agelastes;  *no  female 
heart  could  meditate  an  action  so  atrocious  against  so 
fine  a  form  as  that  of  the  Caesar  Nicephorus  Briennius.' 

'Put  it  not  on  that  issue,  father,'  said  the  offended 
countess;  'for,  by  my  patroness  saint,  Our  Lady  of  the 
Broken  Lances,  had  it  not  been  for  regard  to  these  two 
ladies,  who  seemed  to  intend  some  respect  to  my  husband 

234 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  myself,  that  same  Nicephorus  should  have  been  as 
perfectly  a  Lord  of  the  Broken  Bones  as  any  Caesar  who 
has  borne  the  title  since  the  great  Julius.' 

The  philosopher,  upon  this  explicit  information,  began 
to  entertain  some  personal  fear  for  himself,  and  hastened, 
by  diverting  the  conversation,  which  he  did  with  great 
dexterity,  to  the  story  of  Hero  and  Leander,  to  put  the 
afifront  received  out  of  the  head  of  this  unscrupulous 
amazon. 

Meantime,  Count  Robert  of  Paris  was  engrossed,  as  it 
may  be  termed,  by  the  fair  Anna  Comnena.  She  spoke 
on  all  subjects,  on  some  better,  doubtless,  others  worse, 
but  on  none  did  she  suspect  herself  of  any  deficiency; 
while  the  good  count  wished  heartily  within  himself  that 
his  companion  had  been  safely  in  bed  with  the  enchanted 
Princess  of  Zulichium.  She  performed,  right  or  wrong, 
the  part  of  a  panegyrist  of  the  Normans,  until  at  length 
the  Count,  tired  of  hearing  her  prate  of  she  knew  not 
exactly  what,  broke  in  as  follows :  — 

'Lady,'  he  said,  'notwithstanding  I  and  my  followers 
are  sometimes  so  named,  yet  we  are  not  Normans,  who 
come  hither  as  a  numerous  and  separate  body  of  pilgrims, 
under  the  command  of  their  Duke  Robert,  a  vahant, 
though  extravagant,  thoughtless,  and  weak  man.  I  say 
nothing  against  the  fame  of  these  Normans.  They  con- 
quered, in  our  fathers'  days,  a  kingdom  far  stronger  than 
their  own,  which  men  call  England;  I  see  that  you  enter- 
tain some  of  the  natives  of  which  country  in  your  pay, 
under  the  name  of  Varangians.  Although  defeated,  as  I 
said,  by  the  Normans,  they  are,  nevertheless,  a  brave 
race;  nor  would  we  think  ourselves  much  dishonoured 
by  mixing  in  battle  with  them.  Still,  we  are  the  valiant 

235 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Franks,  who  had  their  dwelling  on  the  eastern  banks  of 
the  Rhine  and  of  the  Saale,  who  were  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith  by  the  celebrated  Clovis,  and  are  sufficient 
by  our  numbers  and  courage,  to  reconquer  the  Holy 
Land,  should  all  Europe  besides  stand  neutral  in  the 
contest.' 

There  are  few  things  more  painful  to  the  vanity  of  a 
person  like  the  Princess  than  the  being  detected  in  an 
egregious  error  at  the  moment  she  is  taking  credit  to 
herself  for  being  peculiarly  accurately  informed. 

*A  false  slave,  who  knew  not  what  he  was  saying,  I 
suppose,'  said  the  Princess,  '  imposed  upon  me  the  belief 
that  the  Varangians  were  the  natural  enemies  of  the 
Normans.  I  see  him  marching  there  by  the  side  of 
Achilles  Tatius,  the  leader  of  his  corps.  Call  him  hither, 
you  oflQcers,  —  yonder  tall  man,  I  mean,  with  the  battle- 
axe  upon  his  shoulder.' 

Hereward,  distinguished  by  his  post  at  the  head  of  the 
squadron,  was  summoned  from  thence  to  the  presence  of 
the  Princess,  where  he  made  his  military  obeisance  with 
a  cast  of  sternness  in  his  aspect,  as  his  glance  lighted 
upon  the  proud  look  of  the  Frenchman  who  rode  beside 
Anna  Comnena. 

'Did  I  not  understand  thee,  fellow,'  said  Anna  Com- 
nena, 'to  have  informed  me,  nearly  a  month  ago,  that 
the  Normans  and  the  Franks  were  the  same  people,  and 
enemies  to  the  race  from  which  you  spring? ' 

*  The  Normans  are  our  mortal  enemies,  lady,'  answered 
Hereward,  'by  whom  we  were  driven  from  our  native 
land.  The  Franks  are  subjects  of  the  same  lord-para- 
mount with  the  Normans,  and  therefore  they  neither 
love  the  Varangians  nor  are  beloved  by  them.' 

236 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'Good  fellow,'  said  the  French  count,  'you  do  the 
Franks  wrong,  and  ascribe  to  the  Varangians,  although 
not  unnaturally,  an  undue  degree  of  importance,  when 
you  suppose  that  a  race  which  has  ceased  to  exist  as  an 
independent  nation  for  more  than  a  generation  can  be 
either  an  object  of  interest  or  resentment  to  such  as  we 
are.' 

'  I  am  no  stranger,'  said  the  Varangian,  *to  the  pride  of 
your  heart,  or  the  precedence  which  you  assume  over 
those  who  have  been  less  fortunate  in  war  than  your- 
selves. It  is  God  who  casteth  down  and  who  buildeth 
up,  nor  is  there  in  the  world  a  prospect  to  which  the 
Varangians  would  look  forward  with  more  pleasure  than 
that  a  hundred  of  their  number  should  meet  in  a  fair 
field,  either  with  the  oppressive  Normans  or  their  modern 
compatriots,  the  vain  Frenchmen,  and  let  God  be  the 
judge  which  is  most  worthy  of  victory.' 

'You  take  an  insolent  advantage  of  the  chance,'  said 
the  Count  of  Paris,  'which  gives  you  an  unlooked-for 
opportunity  to  brave  a  nobleman.' 

'  It  is  my  sorrow  and  shame,'  said  the  Varangian, '  that 
that  opportunity  is  not  complete;  and  that  there  is  a 
chain  around  me  which  forbids  me  to  say,  "  Slay  me,  or 
I'll  kill  thee  before  we  part  from  this  spot!"' 

'Why,  thou  foolish  and  hot-brained  churl,'  replied 
the  Count,  '  what  right  hast  thou  to  the  honour  of  dying 
by  my  blade?  Thou  art  mad,  or  hast  drained  the  ale-cup 
so  deeply  that  thou  knowest  not  what  thou  thinkest  or 
sayest.' 

'Thou  liest,'  said  the  Varangian,  'though  such  a  re- 
proach be  the  utmost  scandal  of  thy  race.' 

The  Frenchman  motioned  his  hand  quicker  than  light 

237 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

to  his  sword,  but  instantly  withdrew  it,  and  said  with 
dignity,  'Thou  canst  not  offend  me.* 

'But  thou,'  said  the  exile,  'hast  offended  me  in  a 
matter  which  can  only  be  atoned  by  thy  manhood.' 

'Where  and  how? '  answered  the  Count;  'although  it  is 
needless  to  ask  the  question,  which  thou  canst  not 
answer  rationally.' 

'Thou  hast  this  day,'  answered  the  Varangian,  'put  a 
mortal  affront  upon  a  great  prince,  whom  thy  master 
calls  his  ally,  and  by  whom  thou  hast  been  received  with 
every  rite  of  hospitality.  Him  thou  hast  affronted  as  one 
peasant  at  a  merry-making  would  do  shame  to  another, 
and  this  dishonour  thou  hast  done  to  him  in  the  very 
face  of  his  own  chiefs  and  princes,  and  the  nobles  from 
every  court  of  Europe.' 

'it  was  thy  master's  part  to  resent  my  conduct,' 
said  the  Frenchman,  'if  in  reality  he  so  much  felt  it 
as  an  affront.' 

'But  that,'  said  Hereward,  'did  not  consist  with  the 
manners  of  his  country  to  do.  Besides  that,  we  trusty 
Varangians  esteem  ourselves  bound  by  our  oath  as  much 
to  defend  our  Emperor,  while  the  service  lasts,  on  every 
inch  of  his  honour  as  on  every  foot  of  his  territory;  I 
therefore  tell  thee,  sir  knight,  sir  count,  or  whatever 
thou  callest  thyself,  there  is  mortal  quarrel  between  thee 
and  the  Varangian  Guard,  ever  and  until  thou  hast 
fought  it  out  in  fair  and  manly  battle,  body  to  body,  with 
one  of  the  said  Imperial  Varangians,  when  duty  and 
opportunity  shall  permit  —  and  so  God  schaw  the  right ! ' 

As  this  passed  in  the  French  language,  the  meaning 
escaped  the  understanding  of  such  imperialists  as  were 
within  hearing  at  the  time;  and  the  Princess,  who  waited 

238 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

with  some  astonishment  till  the  crusader  and  the  Varan- 
gian had  finished  their  conference,  when  it  was  over, 
said  to  him  with  interest,  'I  trust  you  feel  that  poor 
man's  situation  to  be  too  much  at  a  distance  from  your 
own  to  admit  of  your  meeting  him  in  what  is  termed 
knightly  battle?' 

*0n  such  a  question,'  said  the  knight,  'I  have  but  one 
answer  to  any  lady  who  does  not,  like  my  Brenhilda, 
cover  herself  with  a  shield,  and  bear  a  sword  by  her  side 
and  the  heart  of  a  knight  in  her  bosom.' 

*And  suppose  for  once,'  said  the  Princess  Anna  Com- 
nena,  *that  I  possessed  such  titles  to  your  confidence, 
what  would  your  answer  be  to  me? ' 

'There  can  be  little  reason  for  concealing  it,'  said  the 
Count.  'The  Varangian  is  a  brave  man  and  a  strong 
one;  it  is  contrary  to  my  vow  to  shun  his  challenge,  and 
perhaps  I  shall  derogate  from  my  rank  by  accepting  it; 
but  the  world  is  wide,  and  he  is  yet  to  be  born  who  has 
seen  Robert  of  Paris  shun  the  face  of  mortal  man.  By 
means  of  some  gallant  officer  among  the  Emperor's 
guards  this  poor  fellow,  who  nourishes  so  strange  an 
ambition,  shall  learn  that  he  shall  have  his  wish  grati- 
fied.' 

'And  then  —  ?'  said  Anna  Comnena. 

'Why,  then,'  said  the  Count,  'in  the  poor  man's  own 
language,  God  schaw  the  right!' 

'Which  is  to  say,'  said  the  Princess,  'that,  if  my  father 
has  an  officer  of  his  guards  honourable  enough  to  forward 
so  pious  and  reasonable  a  purpose,  the  Emperor  must 
lose  an  ally,  in  whose  faith  he  puts  confidence,  or  a  most 
trusty  and  faithful  soldier  of  his  personal  guard,  who  has 
distinguished  himself  upon  many  occasions?' 

239 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*I  am  happy  to  hear/  said  the  Count,  'that  the  man 
bears  such  a  character.  In  truth,  his  ambition  ought  to 
have  some  foundation.  The  more  I  think  of  it,  the  rather 
am  I  of  opinion  that  there  is  something  generous,  rather 
than  derogatory,  in  giving  to  the  poor  exile,  whose 
thoughts  are  so  high  and  noble,  those  privileges  of  a  man 
of  rank  which  some  who  were  born  in  such  lofty  station 
are  too  cowardly  to  avail  themselves  of.  Yet  despond 
not,  noble  princess:  the  challenge  is  not  yet  accepted 
of,  and  if  it  was,  the  issue  is  in  the  hand  of  God.  As  for 
me,  whose  trade  is  war,  the  sense  that  I  have  something 
so  serious  to  transact  with  this  resolute  man  will  keep 
me  from  other  less  honourable  quarrels,  in  which  a  lack 
of  occupation  might  be  apt  to  involve  me.' 

The  Princess  made  no  further  observation,  being 
resolved,  by  private  remonstrance  to  Achilles  Tatius, 
to  engage  him  to  prevent  a  meeting  which  might  be 
fatal  to  the  one  or  the  other  of  two  brave  men.  The  town 
now  darkened  before  them,  sparkling,  at  the  same 
time,  through  its  obscurity,  by  the  many  lights  which 
illuminated  the  houses  of  the  citizens.  The  royal  cav- 
alcade held  their  way  to  the  Golden  Gate,  where  the 
trusty  centurion  put  his  guard  under  arms  to  receive 
them. 

'We  must  now  break  off,  fair  ladies,'  said  the  Count, 
as  the  party,  having  now  dismounted,  were  standing 
together  at  the  private  gate  of  the  Blacquernal  Palace, 
*  and  find  as  we  can  the  lodgings  which  we  occupied  last 
night.' 

*  Under  your  favour,  no,'  said  the  Empress.  '  You  must 
be  content  to  take  your  supper  and  repose  in  quarters 
more  fitting  your  rank;  and,'  added  Irene,  'with  no 

240 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

worse  quartermaster  than  one  of  the  imperial  family 
who  has  been  your  travelling  companion.' 

This  the  Count  heard  with  considerable  inclination  to 
accept  the  hospitality  which  was  so  readily  offered.  Al- 
though as  devoted  as  a  man  could  well  be  to  the  charms 
of  his  Brenhilda,  the  very  idea  never  having  entered  his 
head  of  preferring  another's  beauty  to  hers,  yet,  never- 
theless, he  had  naturally  felt  himself  flattered  by  the 
attentions  of  a  woman  of  eminent  beauty  and  very  high 
rank ;  and  the  praises  with  which  the  Princess  had  loaded 
him  had  not  entirely  fallen  to  the  ground.  He  was  no 
longer  in  the  humour  in  which  the  morning  had  found 
him,  disposed  to  outrage  the  feelings  of  the  Emperor 
and  to  insult  his  dignity;  but,  flattered  by  the  adroit 
sycophancy  which  the  old  philosopher  had  learned  from 
the  schools,  and  the  beautiful  princess  had  been  gifted 
with  by  nature,  he  assented  to  the  Empress's  proposal; 
the  more  readily,  perhaps,  that  the  darkness  did  not  per- 
mit him  to  see  that  there  was  distinctly  a  shade  of  dis- 
pleasure on  the  brow  of  Brenhilda.  Whatever  the  cause, 
she  cared  not  to  express  it,  and  the  married  pair  had 
just  entered  that  labyrinth  of  passages  through  which 
Hereward  had  formerly  wandered,  when  a  chamberlain 
and  a  female  attendant,  richly  dressed,  bent  the  knee 
before  them,  and  offered  them  the  means  and  place  to 
adjust  their  attire,  ere  they  entered  the  imperial  pres- 
ence. Brenhilda  looked  upon  her  apparel  and  arms, 
spotted  with  the  blood  of  the  insolent  Scythian,  and, 
amazon  as  she  was,  felt  the  shame  of  being  carelessly 
and  improperly  dressed.  The  arms  of  the  knight  were 
also  bloody,  and  in  disarrangement. 

'Tell  my  female  squire,  Agatha,  to  give  her  attend- 
43  241 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ance/  said  the  Countess.  'She  alone  is  in  the  habit  of 
assisting  to  unarm  and  to  attire  me.' 

'Now,  God  be  praised,'  thought  the  Grecian  lady  of 
the  bed-chamber,  'that  I  am  not  called  to  a  toilet  where 
smiths'  hammers  and  tongs  are  like  to  be  the  instru- 
ments most  in  request!' 

'Tell  Marcian,  my  armourer,'  said  the  Count,  'to 
attend  with  the  silver  and  blue  suit  of  plate  and  mail 
which  I  won  in  a  wager  from  the  Coimt  of  Toulouse.'^ 

'Might  I  not  have  the  honour  of  adjusting  your  ar- 
mour,' said  a  splendidly  drest  courtier,  with  some  marks 
of  the  armourer's  profession,  'since  I  have  pat  on  that 
of  the  Emperor  himself,  may  his  name  be  sacred? ' 

'And  how  many  rivets  hast  thou  clenched  upon  the 
occasion  with  this  hand,'  said  the  Count,  catching  hold 
of  it,  'which  looks  as  if  it  had  never  been  washed  save 
with  milk  of  roses,  — and  with  this  childish  toy?'  point- 
ing to  a  hammer,  with  ivory  haft  and  silver  head,  which, 
stuck  into  a  milk-white  kidskin  apron,  the  official  wore 
as  badges  of  his  duty. 

The  armourer  fell  back  in  some  confusion.  'His 
grasp,'  he  said  to  another  domestic,  'is  like  the  seizure 
of  a  vice.' 

While  this  little  scene  passed  apart,  the  Empress  Irene, 
her  daughter,  and  her  son-in-law  left  the  company,  under 
pretence  of  making  a  necessary  change  in  their  apparel. 
Immediately  after,  Agelastes  was  required  to  attend  the 
Emperor,  and  the  strangers  were  conducted  to  two  adja- 
cent chambers  of  retirement,  splendidly  fitted  up,  and 
placed  for  the  present  at  their  disposal  and  that  of  their 
attendants.  There  we  shall  for  a  time  leave  them,  assum- 

*  See  Note  8. 
242 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

ing,  with  the  assistance  of  their  own  attendants,  a  dress 
which  their  ideas  regarded  as  most  fit  for  a  great  occa- 
sion; those  of  the  Grecian  court  willingly  keeping  apart 
from  a  task  which  they  held  nearly  as  formidable  as 
assisting  at  the  lair  of  a  royal  tiger  or  his  bride. 

Agelastes  found  the  Emperor  sedulously  arranging 
his  most  splendid  court-dress;  for,  as  in  the  court  of 
Pekin,  the  change  of  ceremonial  attire  was  a  great  part 
of  the  ritual  observed  at  Constantinople. 

*Thou  hast  done  well,  wise  Agelastes,'  said  Alexius  to 
the  philosopher,  as  he  approached  with  abundance  of 
prostrations  and  genuflexions  —  *  thou  hast  done  well, 
and  we  are  content  with  thee.  Less  than  thy  wit  and 
address  must  have  failed  in  separating  from  their  com- 
pany this  tameless  bull  and  unyoked  heifer,  over  whom, 
if  we  obtain  influence,  we  shall  command,  by  every  ac- 
count, no  small  interest  among  those  who  esteem  them 
the  bravest  in  the  host.' 

*My  humble  understanding,'  said  Agelastes,  'had 
been  infinitely  inferior  to  the  management  of  so  prudent 
and  sagacious  a  scheme,  had  it  not  been  shaped  forth 
and  suggested  by  the  inimitable  wisdom  of  your  Most 
Sacred  Imperial  Highness.' 

*  We  are  aware,'  said  Alexius,  'that  we  had  the  merit  of 
blocking  forth  the  scheme  of  detaining  these  persons, 
either  by  their  choice  as  allies  or  by  main  force  as  hos- 
tages. Their  friends,  ere  yet  they  have  missed  them,  will 
be  engaged  in  war  with  the  Turks,  and  at  no  liberty,  if 
the  devil  should  suggest  such  an  undertaking,  to  take 
arms  against  the  sacred  empire.  Thus,  Agelastes,  we 
shall  obtain  hostages  at  least  as  important  and  as  valu- 
able as  that  Count  of  Vermandois,  whose  liberty  the 

243 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

tremendous  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  extorted  from  us  by 
threats  of  instant  war.' 

'Pardon,'  said  Agelastes,  'if  I  add  another  reason  to 
those  which  of  themselves  so  happily  support  your  au- 
gust resolution.  It  is  possible  that  we  may,  by  observing 
the  greatest  caution  and  courtesy  towards  these  strangers, 
win  them  in  good  earnest  to  our  side.' 

*I  conceive  you  —  I  conceive  you,'  said  the  Emperor; 
'and  this  very  night  I  will  exhibit  myself  to  this  count 
and  his  lady  in  the  royal  presence-chamber,  in  the  rich- 
est robes  which  our  wardrobe  can  furnish.  The  lions  of 
Solomon  shall  roar,  the  golden  tree  of  Comnenus  shall 
display  its  wonders,  and  the  feeble  eyes  of  these  Franks 
shall  be  altogether  dazzled  by  the  splendour  of  the  em- 
pire. These  spectacles  cannot  but  sink  into  their  minds, 
and  dispose  them  to  become  the  alHes  and  servants  of  a 
nation  so  much  more  powerful,  skilful,  and  wealthy  than 
their  own.  Thou  hast  something  to  say,  Agelastes.  Years 
and  long  study  have  made  thee  wise;  though  we  have 
given  our  opinion,  thou  mayst  speak  thine  own  and 
live.' 

Thrice  three  times  did  Agelastes  press  his  brow  against 
the  hem  of  the  Emperor's  garment,  and  great  seemed  his 
anxiety  to  find  such  words  as  might  intimate  his  dis- 
sent from  his  sovereign,  yet  save  him  from  the  informal- 
ity of  contradicting  him  expressly. 

'These  sacred  words,  in  which  your  Sacred  Highness 
has  uttered  your  most  just  and  accurate  opinions,  are 
undeniable,  and  incapable  of  contradiction,  were  any 
vain  enough  to  attempt  to  impugn  them.  Nevertheless, 
be  it  lawful  to  say,  that  men  show  the  wisest  arguments 
in  vain  to  those  who  do  not  understand  reason,  just  as 

244 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

you  would  in  vain  exhibit  a  curious  piece  of  limning  to 
the  blind,  or  endeavour  to  bribe,  as  Scripture  saith,  a  sow 
by  the  offer  of  a  precious  stone.  The  fault  is  not,  in  such 
a  case,  in  the  accuracy  of  your  sacred  reasoning,  but  in 
the  obtuseness  and  perverseness  of  the  barbarians  to 
whom  it  is  applied.' 

'Speak  more  plainly,'  said  the  Emperor;  'how  often 
must  we  tell  thee  that,  in  cases  in  which  we  really  want 
counsel,  we  know  we  must  be  contented  to  sacrifice 
ceremony?' 

'  Then,  in  plain  words,'  said  Agelastes, '  these  European 
barbarians  are  like  no  others  under  the  cope  of  the  uni- 
verse, either  in  the  things  on  which  they  look  with  desire 
or  in  those  which  they  consider  as  discouraging.  The 
treasures  of  this  noble  empire,  so  far  as  they  affected  their 
wishes,  would  merely  inspire  them  with  the  desire  to  go 
to  war  with  a  nation  possessed  of  so  much  wealth,  and 
who,  in  their  self-conceited  estimation,  were  less  able  to 
defend  than  they  themselves  are  powerful  to  assail.  Of 
such  a  description,  for  instance,  is  Bohemond  of  Taren- 
tum,  and  such  a  one  is  many  a  crusader  less  able  and 
sagacious  than  he;  for  I  think  I  need  not  tell  your  Im- 
perial Divinity  that  he  holds  his  own  self-interest  to  be 
the  devoted  guide  of  his  whole  conduct  through  this 
extraordinary  war;  and  that,  therefore,  you  can  justly 
calculate  his  course  when  once  you  are  aware  from  which 
point  of  the  compass  the  wind  of  avarice  and  self-inter- 
est breathes  with  respect  to  him.  But  there  are  spirits 
among  the  Franks  of  a  very  different  nature,  and  who 
must  be  acted  upon  by  very  different  motives,  if  we  would 
make  ourselves  masters  of  their  actions  and  the  prin- 
ciples by  which  they  are  governed.    If  it  were  lawful 

245 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

to  do  so,  I  would  request  your  Majesty  to  look  at  the 
manner  by  which  an  artful  juggler  of  your  court  achieves 
his  imposition  upon  the  eyes  of  spectators,  yet  heedfuUy 
disguises  the  means  by  which  he  attains  his  object.  This 
people  —  I  mean  the  more  lofty-minded  of  these  cru- 
saders, who  act  up  to  the  pretences  of  the  doctrine  which 
they  call  chivalry  —  despise  the  thirst  of  gold,  and  gold 
itself,  unless  to  hilt  their  swords,  or  to  furnish  forth  some 
necessary  expenses,  as  alike  useless  and  contemptible. 
The  man  who  can  be  moved  by  the  thirst  of  gain  they 
contemn,  scorn,  and  despise,  and  Hken  him,  in  the  mean- 
ness of  his  objects,  to  the  most  paltry  serf  that  ever  fol- 
lowed the  plough  or  wielded  the  spade.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  it  happens  that  they  actually  need  gold,  they 
are  sufficiently  unceremonious  in  taking  it  where  they 
can  most  easily  find  it.  Thus,  they  are  neither  easily  to 
be  bribed  by  giving  them  sums  of  gold  nor  to  be  starved 
into  comphance  by  withholding  what  chance  may  render 
necessary  for  them.  In  the  one  case,  they  set  no  value 
upon  the  gift  of  a  httle  paltry  yellow  dross;  in  the  other, 
they  are  accustomed  to  take  what  they  want.' 

'Yellow  dross!'  interrupted  Alexius.  'Do  they  call 
that  noble  metal,  equally  respected  by  Roman  and  bar- 
barian, by  rich  and  poor,  by  great  and  mean,  by  church- 
men and  laymen,  which  all  mankind  are  fighting  for, 
plotting  for,  planning  for,  intriguing  for,  and  damning 
themselves  for,  both  soul  and  body,  by  the  opprobrious 
name  of  yellow  dross?  They  are  mad,  Agelastes  —  ut- 
terly mad.  Perils  and  dangers,  penalties  and  scourges, 
are  the  only  arguments  to  which  men  who  are  above  the 
universal  influence  which  moves  all  others  can  possibly 
be  accessible.' 

246 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'Nor  are  they,'  said  Agelastes,  'more  accessible  to  fear 
than  they  are  to  self-interest.  They  are  indeed,  from  their 
boyhood,  brought  up  to  scorn  those  passions  which  in- 
fluence ordinary  minds,  whether  by  means  of  avarice  to 
impel  or  of  fear  to  hold  back.  So  much  is  this  the  case, 
that  what  is  enticing  to  other  men  must,  to  interest  them, 
have  the  piquant  sauce  of  extreme  danger.  I  told,  for 
instance,  to  this  very  hero  a  legend  of  a  Princess  of  Zu- 
lichium,  who  lay  on  an  enchanted  couch,  beautiful  a:s  an 
angel,  awaiting  the  chosen  knight  who  should,  by  dis- 
pelling her  enchanted  slumbers,  become  master  of  her 
person,  of  her  kingdom  of  ZuHchium,  and  of  her  countless 
treasures;  and,  would  your  Imperial  Majesty  believe 
me,  I  could  scarce  get  the  gallant  to  attend  to  my  legend, 
or  take  any  interest  in  the  adventure,  till  I  assured  him 
he  would  have  to  encounter  a  winged  dragon,  compared 
to  which  the  largest  of  those  in  the  Frank  romances  was 
but  like  a  mere  dragon-fly?  * 

'And  did  this  move  the  gallant?'  said  the  Em- 
peror. 

'So  much  so,'  replied  the  philosopher,  'that,  had  I 
not  unfortunately,  by  the  earnestness  of  my  description, 
awakened  the  jealousy  of  his  Penthesilea  of  a  countess, 
he  had  forgotten  the  crusade  and  all  belonging  to  it,  to 
go  in  quest  of  Zulichium  and  its  slumbering  sovereign.' 

'Nay,  then,'  said  the  Emperor,  'we  have  in  our  empire 
—  make  us  sensible  of  the  advantage !  —  innumerable 
tale-tellers  who  are  not  possessed  in  the  slightest  degree 
of  that  noble  scorn  of  gold  which  is  proper  to  the  Franks, 
but  shall,  for  a  brace  of  besants,  lie  with  the  devil,  and 
beat  him  to  boot,  if  in  that  manner  we  can  gain,  as  mari- 
ners say,  the  weather-gage  of  the  Franks.' 

247 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Discretion/  said  Agelastes,  'is  in  the  highest  degree 
necessary.  Simply  to  He  is  no  very  great  matter:  it  is 
merely  a  departure  from  the  truth,  which  is  little  differ- 
ent from  missing  a  mark  at  archery,  where  the  whole 
horizon,  one  point  alone  excepted,  will  alike  serve  the 
shooter's  purpose;  but  to  move  the  Frank  as  is  desired 
requires  a  perfect  knowledge  of  his  temper  and  disposi- 
tion, great  caution  and  presence  of  mind,  and  the  most 
versatile  readiness  in  changing  from  one  subject  to  an- 
other. Had  I  not  myself  been  somewhat  alert,  I  might 
have  paid  the  penalty  of  a  false  step  in  your  Majesty's 
service  by  being  flung  into  my  own  cascade  by  the  virago 
whom  I  offended.' 

'  A  perfect  Thalestris ! '  said  the  Emperor.  '  I  shall  take 
care  what  offence  I  give  her.' 

'If  I  might  speak  and  live,'  said  Agelastes,  'the  Caesar 
Nicephorus  Briennius  had  best  adopt  the  same  precau- 
tion.' 

'Nicephorus,'  said  the  Emperor,  'must  settle  that  with 
our  daughter.  I  have  ever  told  her  that  she  gives  him 
too  much  of  that  history,  of  which  a  page  or  two  is  suf- 
ficiently refreshing;  but  by  our  own  self  we  must  swear 
it,  Agelastes,  that,  night  after  night,  hearing  nothing 
else  would  subdue  the  patience  of  a  saint.  Forget,  good 
Agelastes,  that  thou  hast  heard  me  say  such  a  thing  — 
more  especially,  remember  it  not  when  thou  art  in 
presence  of  our  imperial  wife  and  daughter.' 

'Nor  were  the  freedoms  taken  by  the  Caesar  beyond 
the  bounds  of  an  innocent  gallantry,'  said  Agelastes ; '  but 
the  Countess,  I  must  needs  say,  is  dangerous.  She  killed 
this  day  the  Scythian  Toxartis,  by  what  seemed  a  mere 
fillip  on  the  head.' 

248 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'Hah!'  said  the  Emperor,  *I  knew  that  Toxartis,  and 
he  was  like  enough  to  deserve  his  death,  being  a  bold, 
unscrupulous  marauder.  Take  notes,  however,  how  it 
happened,  the  names  of  witnesses,  etc.,  that,  if  neces- 
sary, we  may  exhibit  the  fact  as  a  deed  of  aggression  on 
the  part  of  the  Count  and  Countess  of  Paris,  to  the 
assembly  of  the  crusaders.' 

'I  trust,'  said  Agelastes,  'your  Imperial  Majesty  will 
not  easily  resign  the  golden  opportunity  of  gaining  to 
your  standard  persons  whose  character  stand  so  very 
high  in  chivalry.  It  would  cost  you  but  little  to  bestow 
upon  them  a  Grecian  island,  worth  a  hundred  of  their 
own  paltry  lordship  of  Paris;  and  if  it  were  given  under 
the  condition  of  their  expelling  the  infidels  or  the  disaf- 
fected who  may  have  obtained  the  temporary  possession, 
it  would  be  so  much  the  rnore  likely  to  be  an  acceptable 
offer.  I  need  not  say  that  the  whole  knowledge,  wis- 
dom, and  skill  of  the  poor  Agelastes  is  at  your  Imperial 
Majesty's  disposal.' 

The  Emperor  paused  for  a  moment,  and  then  said,  as 
if  on  full  consideration,  '  Worthy  Agelastes,  I  dare  trust 
thee  in  this  difficult  and  somewhat  dangerous  matter; 
but  I  will  keep  my  purpose  of  exhibiting  to  them  the 
lions  of  Solomon  and  the  golden  tree  of  our  imperial 
house.' 

*To  that  there  can  be  no  objection,'  returned  the 
philosopher;  'only  remember  to  exhibit  few  guards,  for 
these  Franks  are  like  a  fiery  horse:  when  in  temper  he 
may  be  ridden  with  a  silk  thread,  but  when  he  has 
taken  umbrage  or  suspicion,  as  they  would  likely  do  if 
they  saw  many  armed  men,  a  steel  bridle  would  not 
restrain  him.' 

249 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'I  will  be  cautious,'  said  the  Emperor,  'in  that  par- 
ticular, as  well  as  others.  Sound  the  silver  bell,  Age- 
lastes,  that  the  officers  of  our  wardrobe  may  attend.' 

'One  single  word  while  your  Highness  is  alone,'  said 
Agelastes.  'Will  your  Imperial  Majesty  transfer  to 
me  the  direction  of  your  menagerie  or  collection  of 
extraordinary  creatures? ' 

'You  make  me  wonder,'  said  the  Emperor,  taking  a 
signet,  bearing  upon  it  a  lion,  with  the  legend,  VicU  Leo  ex 
tribu  JudcB.  'This,'  he  said,  'will  give  thee  the  command 
of  our  dens.  And  now  be  candid  for  once  with  thy 
master,  for  deception  is  thy  nature  even  with  me  —  by 
what  charm  wilt  thou  subdue  these  untamed  savages?' 

'By  the  power  of  falsehood,'  replied  Agelastes,  with 
deep  reverence. 

'I  believe  thee  an  adept  in  it,'  said  the  Emperor.  'And 
to  which  of  their  foibles  wilt  thou  address  it? ' 

'To  their  love  of  fame,'  said  the  philosopher;  and 
retreated  backwards  out  of  the  royal  apartment,  as 
the  officers  of  the  wardrobe  entered  to  complete  the 
investment  of  the  Emperor  in  his  imperial  habiliments. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

I  will  converse  with  iron-witted  fools 
And  unrespective  boys;  none  are  for  me 
That  look  into  me  with  considerate  eyes;  — 
High-reaching  Buckingham  grows  circumspect. 

Richard  III. 

As  they  parted  from  each  other,  the  Emperor  and  phi- 
losopher had  each  their  own  anxious  thoughts  on  the 
interview  which  had  passed  between  them  —  thoughts 
which  they  expressed  in  broken  sentences  and  ejacula- 
tions, though,  for  the  better  understanding  of  the  degree 
of  estimation  in  which  they  held  each  other,  we  will  give 
them  a  more  regular  and  intelligible  form. 

'Thus,  then,'  half -muttered,  half-said  Alexius,  but  so 
low  as  to  hide  his  meaning  from  the  officers  of  the  ward- 
robe, who  entered  to  do  their  office  —  '  thus,  then,  this 
bookworm,  this  remnant  of  old  heathen  philosophy,  who 
hardly  believes,  so  God  save  me,  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
creed,  has  topped  his  part  so  well  that  he  forces  his  Em- 
peror to  dissemble  in  his  presence.  Beginning  by  being 
the  buffoon  of  the  court,  he  has  wormed  himself  into  all 
its  secrets,  made  himself  master  of  all  its  intrigues,  con- 
spired with  my  own  son-in-law  against  me,  debauched 
my  guards  —  indeed  so  woven  his  web  of  deceit,  that  my 
life  is  safe  no  longer  than  he  believes  me  the  imperial 
dolt  which  I  have  affected  to  seem,  in  order  to  deceive 
him ;  fortunate  that  even  so  I  can  escape  his  cautionary 
anticipation  of  my  displeasure,  by  avoiding  to  precipi- 
tate his  measures  of  violence.    But,  were  this  sudden 

251 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

storm  of  the  crusade  fairly  passed  over,  the  ungrateful 
Csesar,  the  boastful  coward  Achilles  Tatius,  and  the 
bosom  serpent  Agelastes  shall  know  whether  Alexius 
Comnenus  has  been  born  their  dupe.  When  Greek  meets 
Greek,  comes  the  strife  of  subtlety,  as  well  as  the  tug 
of  war.'  Thus  saying,  he  resigned  himself  to  the  officers 
of  his  wardrobe,  who  proceeded  to  ornament  him  as  the 
solemnity  required. 

'I  trust  him  not,'  said  Agelastes,  the  meaning  of 
whose  gestures  and  exclamation,  we,  in  like  manner, 
render  into  a  connected  meaning.  *  I  cannot  and  do  not 
trust  him:  he  somewhat  overacts  his  part.  He  has  borne 
himself  upon  other  occasions  with  the  shrewd  wit  of  his 
family  the  Comneni;  yet  he  now  trusts  to  the  effect  of 
his  trumpery  lions  upon  such  a  shrewd  people  as  the 
Franks  and  Normans,  and  seems  to  rely  upon  me  for 
the  character  of  men  with  whom  he  has  been  engaged  in 
peace  and  war  for  many  years.  This  can  be  but  to  gain 
my  confidence ;  for  there  were  imperfect  looks  and  broken 
sentences  which  seemed  to  say,* 'Agelastes,  the  Emperor 
knows  thee,  and  confides  not  in  thee."  Yet  the  plot  is 
successful  and  undiscovered,  as  far  as  can  be  judged; 
and  were  I  to  attempt  to  recede  now,  I  were  lost  for  ever. 
A  little  time  to  carry  on  this  intrigue  with  the  Frank, 
when  possibly,  by  the  assistance  of  this  gallant,  Alexius 
shall  exchange  the  crown  for  a  cloister,  or  a  still  narrower 
abode;  and  then,  Agelastes, thou  deservest  to  be  blotted 
from  the  roll  of  philosophers  if  thou  canst  not  push  out 
of  the  throne  the  conceited  and  luxurious  Caesar,  and 
reign  in  his  stead,  a  second  Marcus  Antoninus,  when  the 
wisdom  of  thy  rule,  long  unfelt  in  a  world  which  has  been 
guided  by  tyrants  and  voluptuaries,  shall  soon  obliterate 

252 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

recollection  of  the  manner  in  which  thy  power  was  ac- 
quired. To  work  then — be  active,  and  be  cautious.  The 
time  requires  it,  and  the  prize  deserves  it.' 

While  these  thoughts  passed  through  his  mind,  he  ar- 
rayed himself,  by  the  assistance  of  Diogenes,  in  a  clean 
suit  of  that  simple  apparel  in  which  he  always  frequented 
the  court  —  a  garb  as  unlike  that  of  a  candidate  for 
royalty  as  it  was  a  contrast  to  the  magnificent  robes  with 
which  Alexius  was  now  investing  himself. 

In  their  separate  apartments,  or  dressing-rooms,  the 
Count  of  Paris  and  his  lady  put  on  the  best  apparel  which 
they  had  prepared  to  meet  such  a  chance  upon  their 
journey.  Even  in  France,  Robert  was  seldom  seen  in  the 
peaceful  cap  and  sweeping  mantle  whose  high  plumes 
and  flowing  folds  were  the  garb  of  knights  in  times  of 
peace.  He  was  now  arrayed  in  a  splendid  suit  of  armour, 
all  except  the  head,  which  was  bare  otherwise  than  as 
covered  by  his  curled  locks.  The  rest  of  his  person  was 
sheathed  in  the  complete  mail  of  the  time,  richly  inlaid 
with  silver,  which  contrasted  with  the  azure  in  which 
the  steel  was  damasked.  His  spurs  were  upon  his  heels, 
his  sword  was  by  his  side,  and  his  triangular  shield  was 
suspended  round  his  neck,  bearing,  painted  upon  it, 
number  of  fleurs-de-lis  semees,  as  it  is  called,  upon  the 
field,  being  the  origin  of  those  lily  flowers  which  after 
times  reduced  to  three  only,  and  which  were  the  terror 
of  Europe,  until  they  suffered  so  many  reverses  in  our 
own  time. 

The  extreme  height  of  Count  Robert's  person  adapted 
him  for  a  garb  which  had  a  tendency  to  make  persons 
of  a  lower  stature  appear  rather  dwarfish  and  thick  when 
arrayed  cap-d-pie.  The  features,  with  their  self-collected 

253 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

composure,  and  noble  contempt  of  whatever  could  have 
astounded  or  shaken  an  ordinary  mind,  formed  a  well- 
fitted  capital  to  the  excellently  proportioned  and  vigor- 
ous frame  which  they  terminated.  The  Countess  was  in 
more  peaceful  attire ;  but  her  robes  were  short  and  suc- 
cinct, like  those  of  one  who  might  be  called  to  hasty  exer- 
cise. The  upper  part  of  her  dress  consisted  of  more  than 
one  tunic,  sitting  close  to  the  body,  while  a  skirt,  de- 
scending from  the  girdle,  and  reaching  to  the  ankles, 
embroidered  elegantly  but  richly,  completed  an  attire 
which  a  lady  might  have  worn  in  much  more  modern 
times.  Her  tresses  were  covered  with  a  light  steel  head- 
piece, though  some  of  them,  escaping,  played  round  her 
face,  and  gave  relief  to  those  handsome  features  which 
might  otherwise  have  seemed  too  formal,  if  closed  en- 
tirely within  the  verge  of  steel.  Over  these  under-gar- 
ments  was  flung  a  rich  velvet  cloak  of  a  deep  green 
colour,  descending  from  the  head,  where  a  species  of 
hood  was  loosely  adjusted  over  the  helmet,  deeply  laced 
upon  its  verges  and  seams,  and  so  long  as  to  sweep  the 
ground  behind.  A  dagger  of  rich  materials  ornamented 
a  girdle  of  curious  goldsmith's  work,  and  was  the  only 
offensive  weapon  which,  notwithstanding  her  military 
occupation,  she  bore  upon  this  occasion. 

The  toilet,  as  modern  times  would  say,  of  the  Countess 
was  not  nearly  so  soon  ended  as  that  of  Count  Robert, 
who  occupied  his  time,  as  husbands  of  every  period  are 
apt  to  do,  in  little  sub-acid  complaints  between  jest  and 
earnest  upon  the  dilatory  nature  of  ladies,  and  the  time 
which  they  lose  in  doffing  and  donning  their  garments. 
But  when  the  Countess  Brenhilda  came  forth  in  the 
pride  of  loveliness  from  the  inner  chamber  where  she 

254 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

had  attired  herself,  her  husband,  who  was  still  her  lover, 
clasped  her  to  his  breast,  and  expressed  his  privilege  by 
the  kiss  which  he  took  as  of  right  from  a  creature  so 
beautiful.  Chiding  him  for  his  folly,  yet  almost  return- 
ing the  kiss  which  she  received,  Brenhilda  began  now  to 
wonder  how  they  were  to  find  their  way  to  the  presence 
of  the  Emperor. 

The  query  was  soon  solved,  for  a  gentle  knock  at  the 
door  announced  Agelastes,  to  whom,  as  best  acquainted 
with  the  Prankish  manners,  had  been  committed  by  the 
Emperor  the  charge  of  introducing  the  noble  strangers. 
A  distant  sound,  like  that  of  the  roaring  of  a  lion,  or  not 
unsimilar  to  a  large  and  deep  gong  of  modern  times,  in- 
timated the  commencement  of  the  ceremonial.  The  black 
slaves  upon  guard,  who,  as  hath  been  observed,  were  in 
small  numbers,  stood  ranged  in  their  state  dresses  of 
white  and  gold,  bearing  in  one  hand  a  naked  sabre,  and 
in  the  other  a  torch  of  white  wax,  which  served  to  guide 
the  Count  and  Countess  through  the  passages  that  led 
to  the  interior  of  the  palace,  and  to  the  most  secret  hall 
of  audience. 

The  door  of  this  sanctum  sanctorum  was  lower  than 
usual,  a  simple  stratagem  devised  by  some  superstitious 
officer  of  the  imperial  household  to  compel  the  lofty- 
crested  Frank  to  lower  his  body  as  he  presented  himself 
in  the  imperial  presence.  Robert,  when  the  door  flew 
open,  and  he  discovered  in  the  background  the  Emperor 
seated  upon  his  throne  amidst  a  glare  of  light,  which 
was  broken  and.  reflected  in  ten  thousand  folds  by  the 
jewels  with  which  his  vestments  were  covered,  stopt 
short,  and  demanded  the  meaning  of  introducing  him 
through  so  low  an  arch?  Agelastes  pointed  to  the  Em- 

255 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

peror,  by  way  of  shifting  from  himself  a  question  which 
he  could  not  have  answered.  The  mute,  to  apologise  for 
his  silence,  yawned,  and  showed  the  loss  of  his  tongue. 

'Holy  Virgin!'  said  the  Countess,  'what  can  these 
unhappy  Africans  have  done,  to  have  deserved  a  con- 
demnation which  involves  so  cruel  a  fate? ' 

'The  hour  of  retribution  is  perhaps  come,'  said  the 
Count,  in  a  displeased  tone,  while  Agelastes,  with  such 
hurry  as  time  and  place  permitted,  entered,  making  his 
prostrations  and  genuflexions,  little  doubting  that  the 
Frank  must  follow  him,  and  to  do  so  must  lower  his  body 
to  the  Emperor.  The  Count,  however,  in  the  height  of 
displeasure  at  the  trick  which  he  conceived  had  been 
intended  him,  turned  himself  round  and  entered  the 
presence-chamber  with  his  back  purposely  turned  to 
the  sovereign,  and  did  not  face  Alexius  until  he  reached 
the  middle  of  the  apartment,  when  he  was  joined  by 
the  Countess,  who  had  made  her  approach  in  a  more 
seemly  manner.  The  Emperor,  who  had  prepared  to 
acknowledge  the  Count's  expected  homage  in  the  most 
gracious  manner,  found  himself  now  even  more  unpleas- 
antly circumstanced  than  when  this  uncompromising 
Frank  had  usurped  the  royal  throne  in  the  course  of  the 
day. 

The  ofiBcers  and  nobles  who  stood  around,  though  a 
very  select  number,  were  more  numerous  than  usual,  as 
the  meeting  was  not  held  for  counsel,  but  merely  for 
state.  These  assumed  such  an  appearance  of  mingled 
displeasure  and  confusion  as  might  best  suit  with  the 
perplexity  of  Alexius,  while  the  wily  features  of  the  Nor- 
man-ItaHan,  Bohemond  of  Tarentum,  who  was  also 
present,  had  a  singular  mixture  of  fantastical  glee  and 

256 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

derision.  It  is  the  misfortune  of  the  weaker  on  such  occa- 
sions, or  at  least  the  more  timid,  to  be  obliged  to  take 
the  petty  part  of  winking  hard,  as  if  not  able  to  see  what 
they  cannot  avenge. 

Alexius  made  the  signal  that  the  ceremonial  of  the 
grand  reception  should  immediately  commence.  In- 
stantly the  lions  of  Solomon,  which  had  been  newly  fur- 
bished, raised  their  heads,  erected  their  manes,  bran- 
dished their  tails,  until  they  excited  the  imagination  of 
Count  Robert,  who,  being  already  on  fire  at  the  circum- 
stances of  his  reception,  conceived  the  bellowing  of  these 
automata  to  be  the  actual  annunciation  of  immediate 
assault.  Whether  the  lions  whose  forms  he  beheld  were 
actually  lords  of  the  forest,  whether  they  were  mortals 
who  had  suffered  transformation,  whether  they  were 
productions  of  the  skill  of  an  artful  juggler  or  profound 
naturalist,  the  Count  neither  knew  nor  cared.  All  that 
he  thought  of  the  danger  was,  that  it  was  worthy  of  his 
courage;  nor  did  his  heart  permit  him  a  moment's  irres- 
olution. He  strode  to  the  nearest  lion,  which  seemed  in 
the  act  of  springing  up,  and  said,  in  a  tone  loud  and  for- 
midable as  its  own,  '  How  now,  dog ! '  At  the  same  time 
he  struck  the  figure  with  his  clenched  fist  and  steel 
gauntlet  with  so  much  force  that  its  head  burst,  and  the 
steps  and  carpet  of  the  throne  were  covered  with  wheels, 
springs,  and  other  machinery,  which  had  been  the  means 
of  producing  its  mimic  terrors. 

On  this  display  of  the  real  nature  of  the  cause  of  his 
anger,  Count  Robert  could  not  but  feel  a  little  ashamed 
of  having  given  way  to  passion  on  such  an  occasion.  He 
was  still  more  confused  when  Bohemond,  descending 
from  his  station  near  the  Emperor,  addressed  him  in  the 

43  257 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Frank  language  —  '  You  have  done  a  gallant  deed,  truly, 
Count  Robert,  in  freeing  the  court  of  Byzantium  from 
an  object  of  fear  which  has  long  been  used  to  frighten 
peevish  children  and  unruly  barbarians ! ' 

Enthusiasm  has  no  greater  enemy  than  ridicule. 
'Why,  then,'  said  Count  Robert,  blushing  deeply  at  the 
same  time,  *  did  they  exhibit  its  fantastic  terrors  to  me? 
I  am  neither  child  nor  barbarian.' 

'Address  yourself  to  the  Emperor,  then,  as  an  intelli- 
gent man,'  answered  Bohemond.  '  Say  something  to  him 
in  excuse  of  your  conduct,  and  show  that  our  bravery  has 
not  entirely  run  away  with  our  common  sense.  And  hark 
you  also,  while  I  have  a  moment's  speech  of  you :  do  you 
and  your  wife  heedfully  follow  my  example  at  supper.' 
These  words  were  spoken  with  a  significant  tone  and 
corresponding  look. 

The  opinion  of  Bohemond,  from  his  long  intercourse, 
both  in  peace  and  war,  with  the  Grecian  Emperor,  gave 
him  great  influence  with  the  other  crusaders,  and  Count 
Robert  yielded  to  his  advice.  He  turned  towards  the 
Emperor  with  something  liker  an  obeisance  than  he  had 
hitherto  paid.  '  I  crave  your  pardon,'  he  said, '  for  break- 
ing that  gilded  piece  of  pageantry;  but,  in  sooth,  the 
wonders  of  sorcery  and  the  portents  of  accomplished  and 
skilful  jugglers  are  so  numerous  in  this  country  that  one 
does  not  clearly  distinguish  what  is  true  from  what  is 
false,  or  what  is  real  from  what  is  illusory.' 

The  Emperor,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  mind 
for  which  he  was  remarkable,  and  the  courage  in  which 
he  was  not  held  by  his  countrymen  to  be  deficient, 
received  this  apology  somewhat  awkwardly.  Perhaps 
the  rueful  complaisance  with  which  he  accepted  the 

258 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Count's  apology  might  be  best  compared  to  that  of  a 
lady  of  the  present  day  when  an  awkward  guest  has 
broken  a  valuable  piece  of  china.  He  muttered  some- 
thing about  the  machines  having  been  long  preserved  in 
the  imperial  family,  as  being  made  on  the  model  of  those 
which  guarded  the  throne  of  the  wise  king  of  Israel;  to 
which  the  blunt,  plain-spoken  Count  expressed  his  doubt 
in  reply,  whether  the  wisest  prince  in  the  world  ever  con- 
descended to  frighten  his  subjects  or  guests  by  the  mimic 
roarings  of  a  wooden  lion.  'If,'  said  he,  *I  too  hastily 
took  it  for  a  living  creature,  I  have  had  the  worst,  by 
damaging  my  excellent  gauntlet  in  dashing  to  pieces  its 
timber  skull.' 

The  Emperor,  after  a  little  more  had  been  said,  chiefly 
on  the  same  subject,  proposed  that  they  should  pass  to 
the  banquet-room.  Marshalled,  accordingly,  by  the 
grand  sewer  of  the  imperial  table,  and  attended  by  all 
present,  excepting  the  Emperor  and  the  immediate  mem- 
bers of  his  family,  the  Prankish  guests  were  guided 
through  a  labyrinth  of  apartments,  each  of  which  was 
filled  with  wonders  of  nature  and  art,  calculated  to  en- 
hance their  opinion  of  the  wealth  and  grandeur  which 
had  assembled  together  so  much  that  was  wonderful. 
Their  passage,  being  necessarily  slow  and  interrupted, 
gave  the  Emperor  time  to  change  his  dress,  according 
to  the  ritual  of  his  court,  which  did  not  permit  his 
appearing  twice  in  the  same  vesture  before  the  same 
spectators.  He  took  the  opportunity  to  summon  Age- 
lastes  into  his  presence,  and,  that  their  conference 
might  be  secret,  he  used,  in  assisting  his  toilet,  the 
agency  of  some  of  the  mutes  destined  for  the  service  of 
the  interior. 

259 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  temper  of  Alexius  Comnenus  was  considerably 
moved,  although  it  was  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  his 
situation  to  be  ever  under  the  necessity  of  disguising 
the  emotions  of  his  mind,  and  of  affecting,  in  presence  of 
his  subjects,  a  superiority  to  human  passion  which  he 
was  far  from  feeling.  It  was  therefore  with  gravity,  and 
even  reprehension,  that  he  asked,  'By  whose  error  it 
was  that  the  wily  Bohemond,  half-Italian  and  half- 
Norman,  was  present  at  this  interview?  Surely,  if  there 
be  one  in  the  crusading  army  likely  to  conduct  that 
foolish  youth  and  his  wife  behind  the  scenes  of  the 
exhibition  by  which  we  hoped  to  impose  upon  them, 
the  Count  of  Tarentum,  as  he  entitles  himself,  is  that 
person.' 

'  It  was  that  old  man,'  said  Agelastes  — '  if  I  may  reply 
and  live  —  Michael  Cantacuzene,  who  deemed  that  his 
presence  was  peculiarly  desired;  but  he  returns  to  the 
camp  this  very  night.' 

'Yes,'  said  Alexius, '  to  inform  Godfrey  and  the  rest  of 
the  crusaders  that  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  highly 
esteemed  of  their  number  is  left,  with  his  wife,  a  hostage 
in  our  imperial  city,  and  to  bring  back,  perhaps,  an  alter- 
native of  instant  war,  unless  they  are  delivered  up ! ' 

'If  it  is  your  Imperial  Highness's  will  to  think  so,' 
said  Agelastes,  'you  can  suffer  Count  Robert  and  his 
wife  to  return  to  the  camp  with  the  Italian-Norman.' 

'What!'  answered  the  Emperor,  'and  to  lose  all  the 
fruits  of  an  enterprise  the  preparations  for  which  have 
already  cost  us  so  much  in  actual  expense;  and,  were  our 
heart  made  of  the  same  stuff  with  that  of  ordinary  mor- 
tals, would  have  cost  us  so  much  more  in  vexation  and 
anxiety?  No  —  no;  issue  warning  to  the  crusaders  who 

260 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

are  still  on  the  hither  side  that  further  rendering  of 
homage  is  dispensed  with,  and  that  they  repair  to  the 
quays  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus  by  peep  of  light  to- 
morrow. Let  our  admiral,  as  he  values  his  head,  pass 
every  man  of  them  over  to  the  farther  side  before  noon. 
Let  there  be  largesses,  a  princely  banquet  on  the  farther 
bank — all  that  may  increase  their  anxiety  to  pass.  Then, 
Agelastes,  we  will  trust  to  ourselves  to  meet  this  addi- 
tional danger,  either  by  bribing  the  venality  of  Bohemond 
or  by  bidding  defiance  to  the  crusaders.  Their  forces  are 
scattered,  and  the  chief  of  them,  with  the  leaders  them- 
selves, are  all  now — or  by  far  the  greater  part — on  the 
east  side  of  the  Bosphorus.  And  now  to  the  banquet, 
seeing  that  the  change  of  dress  has  been  made  sufi&cient 
to  answer  the  statutes  of  the  household,  since  our  ances- 
tors chose  to  make  rules  for  exhibiting  us  to  our  subjects 
as  priests  exhibit  their  images  at  their  shrines.' 

'Under  grant  of  hfe,'  said  Agelastes,  'it  was  not  done 
inconsiderately,  but  in  order  that  the  emperor,  ruled 
ever  by  the  same  laws  from  father  to  son,  might  ever 
be  regarded  as  something  beyond  the  common  laws  of 
humanity  —  the  divine  image  of  a  saint,  therefore, 
rather  than  a  human  being.' 

'We  know  it,  good  Agelastes,'  answered  the  Emperor, 
with  a  smile,  'and  we  are  also  aware  that  many  of  our 
subjects,  like  the  worshippers  of  Bel  in  Holy  Writ,  treat 
us  so  far  as  an  image  as  to  assist  us  in  devouring  the  reve- 
nues of  our  provinces,  which  are  gathered  in  our  name 
and  for  our  use.  These  things  we  now  only  touch  lightly, 
the  time  not  suiting  them.' 

Alexius  left  the  secret  council  accordingly,  after  the 
order  for  the  passage  of  the  crusaders  had  been  written 

261 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

out  and  subscribed  in  due  form,  and  in  the  sacred  ink  of 
the  imperial  chancery. 

Meantime,  the  rest  of  the  company  had  arrived  in  a  hall 
which,  like  the  other  apartments  in  the  palace,  was  most 
tastefully  as  well  as  gorgeously  fitted  up,  except  that  a 
table,  which  presented  a  princely  banquet,  might  have 
been  deemed  faulty  in  this  respect,  that  the  dishes,  which 
were  most  splendid,  both  in  the  materials  of  which  they 
were  composed  and  in  the  viands  which  they  held,  were 
elevated  by  means  of  feet,  so  as  to  be  upon  a  level  with 
female  guests  as  they  sat,  and  with  men  as  they  lay 
recumbent,  at  the  banquet  which  it  offered. 

Around  stood  a  number  of  black  slaves  richly  attired, 
while  the  grand  sewer,  Michael  Cantacuzene,  arranged 
the  strangers  with  his  golden  wand,  and  conveyed  orders 
to  them,  by  signs,  that  all  should  remain  standing  around 
the  table  until  a  signal  should  be  given. 

The  upper  end  of  the  board,  thus  furnished  and  thus 
surrounded,  was  hidden  by  a  curtain  of  muslin  and  silver, 
which  fell  from  the  top  of  the  arch  under  which  the  upper 
part  seemed  to  pass.  On  this  curtain  the  sewer  kept  a 
wary  eye;  and  when  he  observed  it  slightly  shake,  he 
waved  his  wand  of  office,  and  all  expected  the  result. 

As  if  self-moved,  the  mystic  curtain  arose,  and  dis- 
covered behind  it  a  throne  eight  steps  higher  than  the 
end  of  the  table,  decorated  in  the  most  magnificent 
manner,  and  having  placed  before  it  a  small  table  of 
ivory  inlaid  with  silver,  behind  which  was  seated  Alexius 
Comnenus,  in  a  dress  entirely  different  from  what  he  had 
worn  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  so  much  more  gor- 
geous than  his  former  vestments,  that  it  seemed  not 
unnatural  that  his  subjects  should  prostrate  themselves 

262 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

before  a  figure  so  splendid.  His  wife,  his  daughter,  and 
his  son-in-law  the  Caesar  stood  behind  him  with  faces 
bent  to  the  ground,  and  it  was  with  deep  humility  that, 
descending  from  the  throne  at  the  Emperor's  command, 
they  mingled  with  the  guests  of  the  lower  table,  and, 
exalted  as  they  were,  proceeded  to  the  festive  board  at 
the  signal  of  the  grand  sewer;  so  that  they  could  not  be 
said  to  partake  of  the  repast  with  the  Emperor  nor  to  be 
placed  at  the  imperial  table,  although  they  supped  in  his 
presence,  and  were  encouraged  by  his  repeated  request 
to  them  to  make  good  cheer.  No  dishes  presented  at  the 
lower  table  were  offered  at  the  higher;  but  wines  and 
more  delicate  sorts  of  food,  which  arose  before  the  Em- 
peror as  if  by  magic,  and  seemed  designed  for  his  own 
proper  use,  were  repeatedly  sent,  by  his  special  direc- 
tions, to  one  or  other  of  the  guests  whom  Alexius 
delighted  to  honour,  among  these  the  Franks  being  par- 
ticularly distinguished. 

The  behaviour  of  Bohemond  was  on  this  occasion 
particularly  remarkable. 

Count  Robert,  who  kept  an  eye  upon  him,  both  from  his 
recent  words  and  owing  to  an  expressive  look  which  he 
once  or  twice  darted  towards  him,  observed,  that  in  no 
liquors  or  food,  not  even  those  sent  from  the  Emperor's 
own  table,  did  this  astucious  prince  choose  to  indulge. 
A  piece  of  bread,  taken  from  the  canister  at  random,  and 
a  glass  of  pure  water  was  the  only  refreshment  of  which 
he  was  pleased  to  partake.  His  alleged  excuse  was  the 
veneration  due  to  the  Holy  Festival  of  the  Advent, 
which  chanced  to  occur  that  very  night,  and  which  both 
the  Greek  and  Latin  rule  agreed  to  hold  sacred. 

*I  had  not  expected  this  of  you,  Sir  Bohemond,'  said 
263  ^ 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  Emperor,  'that  you  should  have  refused  my  per- 
sonal hospitality  at  my  own  board,  on  the  very  day  on 
which  you  honoured  me  by  entering  into  my  service  as 
vassal  for  the  principahty  of  Antioch.' 

'Antioch  is  not  yet  conquered,'  said  Sir  Bohemond; 
*and  conscience,  dread  sovereign,  must  always  have  its 
exceptions  in  whatever  temporal  contracts  we  may 
engage.' 

*  Come,  gentle  coimt,'  said  the  Emperor,  who  obviously 
regarded  Bohemond's  inhospitable  humour  as  something 
arising  more  from  suspicion  than  devotion,  'we  invite, 
though  it  is  not  our  custom,  our  children,  our  noble 
guests,  and  our  principal  ofi&cers  here  present  to  a  general 
carouse.  Fill  the  cups  called  the  Nine  Muses ;  let  them  be 
brimful  of  the  wine  which  is  said  to  be  sacred  to  the 
imperial  lips.' 

At  the  Emperor's  command  the  cups  were  filled;  they 
were  of  pure  gold,  and  there  was  richly  engraved  upon 
each  the  eflfigy  of  the  Muse  to  whom  it  was  dedicated. 

'You  at  least,'  said  the  Emperor,  'my  gentle  Count 
Robert  —  you  and  your  lovely  lady,  will  not  have  any 
scruple  to  pledge  your  imperial  host? ' 

'  If  that  scruple  is  to  imply  suspicion  of  the  provisions 
with  which  we  are  here  served,  I  disdain  to  nourish  such,' 
said  Count  Robert.  'If  it  is  a  sin  which  I  commit  by 
tasting  wine  to-night,  it  is  a  venial  one ;  nor  shall  I  greatly 
augment  my  load  by  carrying  it,  with  the  rest  of  my 
trespasses,  to  the  next  confessional.' 

'  Will  you  then,  Prince  Bohemond,  not  be  ruled  by  the 
conduct  of  your  friend? '  said  the  Emperor. 

'Methinks,'  replied  the  Norman-Italian,  'my  friend 
might  have  done  better  to  have  been  ruled  by  mine ;  but 

264 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

be  it  as  his  wisdom  pleases.  The  flavour  of  such  exquisite 
wine  is  sufhcient  for  me.' 

So  saying,  he  emptied  the  wine  into  another  goblet, 
and  seemed  alternately  to  admire  the  carving  of  the  cup 
and  the  flavour  of  what  it  had  lately  contained. 

'You  are  right,  Sir  Bohemond,'  said  the  Emperor,  'the 
fabric  of  that  cup  is  beautiful ;  it  was  done  by  one  of  the 
ancient  gravers  of  Greece.  The  boasted  cup  of  Nestor, 
which  Homer  has  handed  down  to  us,  was  a  good  deal 
larger  perhaps,  but  neither  equalled  these  in  the  value 
of  the  material  nor  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  workman- 
ship. Let  each  one,  therefore,  of  my  stranger  guests 
accept  of  the  cup  which  he  either  has  or  might  have 
drunk  out  of,  as  a  recollection  of  me ;  and  may  the  expe- 
dition against  the  infidels  be  as  propitious  as  their  confi- 
dence and  courage  deserve ! ' 

*If  I  accept  your  gift,  mighty  emperor,'  said  Bohe- 
mond, 'it  is  only  to  atone  for  the  apparent  discourtesy, 
when  my  devotion  compels  me  to  decline  your  imperial 
pledge,  and  to  show  you  that  we  part  on  the  most  inti- 
mate terms  of  friendship.' 

So  saying,  he  bowed  deeply  to  the  Emperor,  who 
answered  him  with  a  smile,  into  which  was  thrown  a 
considerable  portion  of  sarcastic  expression. 

'And  I,'  said  the  Count  of  Paris,  'having  taken  upon 
my  conscience  the  fault  of  meeting  your  imperial  pledge, 
may  stand  excused  from  incurring  the  blame  of  aiding  to 
dismantle  your  table  of  these  curious  drinking-cups.  We 
empty  them  to  your  health,  and  we  cannot  in  any  other 
respect  profit  by  them.' 

'But  Prince  Bohemond  can,'  said  the  Emperor;  'to 
whose  quarters  they  shall  be  carried,  sanctioned  by  your 

265 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

generous  use.  And  we  have  still  a  set  for  you,  and  for 
your  lovely  countess,  equal  to  that  of  the  Graces,  though 
no  longer  matching  in  niunber  the  nymphs  of  Parnassus. 
The  evening  bell  rings,  and  calls  us  to  remember  the 
hour  of  rest,  that  we  may  be  ready  to  meet  the  labours  of 
to-morrow.' 

The  party  then  broke  up  for  the  evening.  Bohemond 
left  the  palace  that  night,  not  forgetting  the  Muses,  of 
whom  he  was  not  in  general  a  devotee.  The  result  was, 
as  the  wily  Greek  had  intended,  that  he  had  established 
between  Bohemond  and  the  Count,  not  indeed  a  quarrel, 
but  a  kind  of  difference  of  opinion,  Bohemond  feeling 
that  the  fiery  Count  of  Paris  must  think  his  conduct  sor- 
did and  avaricious,  while  Count  Robert  was  far  less 
inclined  than  before  to  rely  on  him  as  a  counsellor. 


CHAPTER  XV 

The  Count  of  Paris  and  his  lady  were  that  night  lodged 
in  the  Imperial  Palace  of  Blacquernal.  Their  apart- 
ments were  contiguous,  but  the  communication  between 
them  was  cut  off  for  the  night  by  the  mutual  door  being 
locked  and  barred.  They  marvelled  somewhat  at  this 
precaution.  The  observance,  however,  of  the  festival  of 
the  church  was  pleaded  as  an  admissible,  and  not  unnat- 
ural, excuse  for  this  extraordinary  circumstance.  Neither 
the  Count  nor  his  lady  entertained,  it  may  be  believed, 
the  slightest  personal  fear  for  anything  which  could 
happen  to  them.  Their  attendants,  Marcian  and 
Agatha,  having  assisted  their  master  and  mistress  in  the 
performance  of  their  usual  offices,  left  them,  in  order  to 
seek  the  places  of  repose  assigned  to  them  among  persons 
of  their  degree. 

The  preceding  day  had  been  one  of  excitation,  and  of 
much  bustle  and  interest;  perhaps,  also,  the  wine,  sacred 
to  the  imperial  lips,  of  which  Count  Robert  had  taken  a 
single,  indeed,  but  a  deep  draught,  was  more  potent  than 
the  delicate  and  high-flavoured  juice  of  the  Gascogne 
grape,  to  which  he  was  accustomed;  at  any  rate,  it 
seemed  to  him  that,  from  the  time  he  felt  that  he  had 
slept,  daylight  ought  to  have  been  broad  in  his  chamber 
when  he  awakened,  and  yet  it  was  still  darkness  almost 
palpable.  Somewhat  surprised,  he  gazed  eagerly  around, 
but  could  discern  nothing,  except  two  balls  of  red  light 
which  shone  from  among  the  darkness  with  a  self- 

267 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

emitted  brilliancy,  like  the  eyes  of  a  wild  animal  while  it 
glares  upon  its  prey.  The  Count  started  from  bed  to  put 
on  his  armour,  a  necessary  precaution  if  what  he  saw 
should  really  be  a  wild  creature  and  at  liberty;  but  the 
instant  he  stirred,  a  deep  growl  was  uttered,  such  as  the 
Count  had  never  heard,  but  which  might  be  compared 
to  the  sound  of  a  thousand  monsters  at  once ;  and,  as  the 
symphony,  was  heard  the  clash  of  iron  chains,  and  the 
springing  of  a  monstrous  creature  towards  the  bedside, 
which  appeared,  however,  to  be  withheld  by  some 
fastening  from  attaining  the  end  of  its  bound.  The 
roars  which  it  uttered  now  ran  thick  on  each  other.  They 
were  most  tremendous,  and  must  have  been  heard 
throughout  the  whole  palace.  The  creature  seemed  to 
gather  itself  many  yards  nearer  to  the  bed  than  by  its 
glaring  eyeballs  it  appeared  at  first  to  be  stationed,  and 
how  much  nearer,  or  what  degree  of  motion  might  place 
him  within  the  monster's  reach,  the  Count  was  totally 
uncertain.  Its  breathing  was  even  heard,  and  Count 
Robert  thought  he  felt  the  heat  of  its  respiration,  while 
his  defenceless  limbs  might  not  be  two  yards  distant  from 
the  fangs  which  he  heard  grinding  against  each  other, 
and  the  claws  which  tore  up  fragments  of  wood  from  the 
oaken  floor.  The  Count  of  Paris  was  one  of  the  bravest 
men  who  lived  in  a  time  when  bravery  was  the  universal 
property  of  all  who  claimed  a  drop  of  noble  blood,  and 
the  knight  was  a  descendant  of  Charlemagne.  He  was, 
however,  a  man,  and  therefore  cannot  be  said  to  have 
endured  unappalled  a  sense  of  danger  so  unexpected  and 
so  extraordinary.  But  his  was  not  a  sudden  alarm  or 
panic:  it  was  a  calm  sense  of  extreme  peril,  qualified  by  a 
resolution  to  exert  his  faculties  to  the  uttermost,  to  save 

268 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

his  life  if  it  were  possible.  He  withdrew  himself  within 
the  bed,  no  longer  a  place  of  rest,  being  thus  a  few  feet 
farther  from  the  two  glaring  eyeballs  which  remained 
so  closely  fixed  upon  him  that,  in  spite  of  his  courage, 
nature  painfully  suggested  the  bitter  imagination  of  his 
limbs  being  mangled,  torn,  and  churned  with  their  life- 
blood,  in  the  jaws  of  some  monstrous  beast  of  prey.  One 
saving  thought  alone  presented  itself:  this  might  be  a 
trial,  an  experiment  of  the  philosopher  Agelastes,  or  of 
the  Emperor  his  master,  for  the  purpose  of  proving  the 
courage  of  which  the  Christians  vaunted  so  highly,  and 
punishing  the  thoughtless  insult  which  the  Count  had 
been  unadvised  enough  to  put  upon  the  Emperor  the 
preceding  day. 

'Well  is  it  said,'  he  reflected  in  his  agony,  'beard  not 
the  lion  in  his  den.  Perhaps  even  now  some  base  slave 
deliberates  whether  I  have  yet  tasted  enough  of  the 
preliminary  agonies  of  death,  and  whether  he  shall  yet 
slip  the  chain  which  keeps  the  savage  from  doing  his 
work.  But  come  death  when  it  will,  it  shall  never  be 
said  that  Count  Robert  was  heard  to  receive  it  with 
prayers  for  compassion  or  with  cries  of  pain  or  terror.* 
He  turned  his  face  to  the  wall,  and  waited,  with  a  strong 
mental  exertion,  the  death  which  he  conceived  to  be 
fast  approaching. 

His  first  feelings  had  been  unavoidably  of  a  selfish 
nature.  The  danger  was  too  instant,  and  of  a  descrip- 
tion too  horrible,  to  admit  of  any  which  involved  a  more 
comprehensive  view  of  his  calamity;  and  other  reflections 
of  a  more  distant  kind  were  at  first  swallowed  up  in  the 
all-engrossing  thought  of  immediate  death.  But  as  his 
ideas  became  clearer,  the  safety  of  his  countess  rushed 

269 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

upon  his  mind  —  what  might  she  now  be  suffering:  and, 
while  he  was  subjected  to  a  trial  so  extraordinary,  for 
what  were  her  weaker  frame  and  female  courage  re- 
served? Was  she  still  within  a  few  yards  of  him, 
as  when  he  lay  down  the  last  night?  or  had  the  bar- 
barians, who  had  devised  for  him  a  scene  so  cruel, 
availed  themselves  of  his  and  his  lady's  incautious 
confidence  to  inflict  upon  her  some  villainy  of  the 
same  kind,  or  even  yet  more  perfidious?  Did  she  sleep 
or  wake,  or  could  she  sleep  within  the  close  hearing  of 
that  horrible  cry,  which  shook  all  around?  He  resolved 
to  utter  her  name,  warning  her,  if  possible,  to  be  upon 
her  guard,  and  to  answer  without  venturing  rashly 
into  the  apartment  which  contained  a  guest  so  horribly 
perilous. 

He  uttered,  therefore,  his  wife's  name,  but  in  trem- 
bling accents,  as  if  he  had  been  afraid  of  the  savage  beast 
overhearing  him. 

'Brenhilda  —  Brenhilda,  there  is  danger;  awake  and 
speak  to  me,  but  do  not  arise.'  There  was  no  answer. 
'What  am  I  become,'  he  said  to  himself, '  that  I  call  upon 
Brenhilda  of  Aspramonte,  like  a  child  on  its  sleeping 
nurse,  and  all  because  there  is  a  wild  cat  in  the  same 
room  with  me?  Shame  on  thee,  Count  of  Paris!  Let  thy 
arms  be  rent  and  thy  spurs  be  hacked  from  thy  heels! 
What  ho!'  he  cried  aloud,  but  still  with  a  tremulous 
voice,  'Brenhilda,  we  are  beset:  the  foe  are  upon  us. 
Answer  me,  but  stir  not.' 

A  deep  growl  from  the  monster  which  garrisoned  his 
apartment  was  the  only  answer.  The  sound  seemed  to 
say,  'Thou  hast  no  hope';  and  it  ran  to  the  knight's 
bosom  as  the  genuine  expression  of  despair. 

270 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

*  Perhaps,  however,  I  am  still  too  cold  in  making  my 
misery  known.   What,  ho!  my  love  —  Brenhilda!' 

A  voice,  hollow  and  disconsolate  as  that  which  might 
have  served  an  inhabitant  of  the  grave,  answered  as  if 
from  a  distance.  'What  disconsolate  wretch  art  thou, 
who  expectest  that  the  living  can  answer  thee  from  the 
habitations  of  the  dead? ' 

*I  am  a  Christian  man,  a  free  noble  of  the  kingdom  of 
France,'  answered  the  Count,  —  'yesterday  the  captain 
of  five  hundred  men,  the  bravest  in  France  —  the  brav- 
est, that  is,  who  breathe  mortal  air  —  and  I  am  here 
without  a  glimpse  of  light  to  direct  me  how  to  avoid  the 
corner  in  which  lies  a  wild  tiger-cat,  prompt  to  spring 
upon  and  to  devour  me.' 

'Thou  art  an  example,'  replied  the  voice,  'and  wilt 
not  long  be  the  last,  of  the  changes  of  fortune.  I,  who 
am  now  suffering  in  my  third  year,  was  that  mighty 
Ursel  who  rivalled  Alexius  Comnenus  for  the  crown  of 
Greece,  was  betrayed  by  my  confederates,  and  being 
deprived  of  that  eyesight  which  is  the  chief  blessing  of 
humanity,  I  inhabit  these  vaults,  no  distant  neighbour 
of  the  wild  animals  by  whom  they  are  sometimes  occu- 
pied, and  whose  cries  of  joy  I  hear  when  unfortunate 
victims  like  thyself  are  delivered  up  to  their  fury.' 

'Didst  thou  not  then  hear,'  said  Count  Robert,  in 
return,  'a  warlike  guest  and  his  bride  conducted  hither 
last  night,  with  sounds  as  it  might  seem  of  bridal  music? 
O,  Brenhilda!  hast  thou,  so  young,  so  beautiful,  been 
so  treacherously  done  to  death  by  means  so  unutterably 
horrible?' 

'Think  not,'  answered  Urscl,  as  the  voice  had  called 
its  owner,  '  that  the  Greeks  pamper  their  wild  beasts  on 

271 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

such  lordly  fare.  For  their  enemies,  which  term  includes 
not  only  all  that  are  really  such,  but  all  those  whom 
they  fear  or  hate,  they  have  dungeons  whose  locks  never 
revolve;  hot  instruments  of  steel,  to  sear  the  eyeballs 
in  the  head;  lions  and  tigers,  when  it  pleases  them  to 
make  a  speedy  end  of  their  captives  —  but  these  are 
only  for  the  male  prisoners.  While  for  the  women,  if 
they  be  young  and  beautiful,  the  princes  of  the  land 
have  places  in  their  bed  and  bower;  nor  are  they  em- 
ployed, like  the  captives  of  Agamemnon's  host,  to  draw 
water  from  an  Argive  spring,  but  are  admired  and  adored 
by  those  whom  fate  has  made  the  lords  of  their  destiny.' 

'Such  shall  never  be  the  doom  of  Brenhilda,'  ex- 
claimed Count  Robert : '  her  husband  still  lives  to  assist 
her,  and  should  he  die,  she  knows  well  how  to  follow  him 
without  leaving  a  blot  in  the  epitaph  of  either.' 

The  captive  did  not  immediately  reply,  and  a  short 
pause  ensued,  which  was  broken  by  Ursel's  voice. 
'Stranger,'  he  said,  'what  noise  is  that  I  hear?' 

'Nay,  I  hear  nothing,'  said  Count  Robert. 

'But  I  do,'  said  Ursel.  'The  cruel  deprivation  of  my 
eyesight  renders  my  other  senses  more  acute.' 

'Disquiet  not  thyself  about  the  matter,  fellow-pris- 
oner,' answered  the  Count,  'but  wait  the  event  in 
silence.' 

Suddenly  a  light  arose  in  the  apartment,  lurid,  red, 
and  smoky.  The  knight  had  bethought  him  of  a  flint 
and  match  which  he  usually  carried  about  him,  and  with 
as  little  noise  as  possible  had  lighted  the  torch  by  the 
bedside;  this  he  instantly  applied  to  the  curtains  of  the 
bed,  which,  being  of  thin  muslin,  were  in  a  moment  in 
flames.  The  knight  sprung  at  the  same  instant  from  his 

272 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

bed.  The  tiger,  for  such  it  was,  terrified  at  the  flame, 
leaped  backwards  as  far  as  his  chain  would  permit,  heed- 
less of  anything  save  this  new  object  of  terror.  Count 
Robert  upon  this  seized  on  a  massive  wooden  stool, 
which  was  the  only  offensive  weapon  on  which  he  could 
lay  his  hand,  and,  marking  at  those  eyes  which  now  re- 
flected the  blaze  of  fire,  and  which  had  recently  seemed 
so  appalling,  he  discharged  against  them  this  fragment 
of  ponderous  oak,  with  a  force  which  less  resembled  hu- 
man strength  than  the  impetus  with  which  an  engine 
hurls  a  stone.  He  had  employed  his  instant  of  time  so 
well,  and  his  aim  was  so  true,  that  the  missile  went  right 
to  the  mark  and  with  incredible  force.  The  skull  of  the 
tiger,  which  might  be,  perhaps,  somewhat  exaggerated  if 
described  as  being  of  the  very  largest  size,  was  fractured 
by  the  blow,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his  dagger,  which 
had  fortunately  been  left  with  him,  the  French  count 
despatched  the  monster,  and  had  the  satisfaction  to  see 
him  grin  his  last,  and  roll,  in  the  agony  of  death,  those 
eyes  which  were  lately  so  formidable. 

Looking  around  him,  he  discovered,  by  the  light  of  the 
fire  which  he  had  raised,  that  the  apartment  in  which  he 
now  lay  was  different  from  that  in  which  he  had  gone  to 
bed  overnight;  nor  could  there  be  a  stronger  contrast 
between  the  furniture  of  both  than  the  flickering,  half- 
burnt  remains  of  the  thin  muslin  curtains,  and  the  strong, 
bare,  dungeon-looking  walls  of  the  room  itself,  or  the 
very  serviceable  wooden  stool,  of  which  he  had  made 
such  good  use. 

The  knight  had  no  leisure  to  form  conclusions  upon 
such  a  subject.  He  hastily  extinguished  the  fire,  which 
had,  indeed,  nothing  that  it  could  lay  hold  of,  and  pro- 
43  273 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ceeded,  by  the  light  of  the  flambeau,  to  examine  the  apart- 
ment and  its  means  of  entrance.  It  is  scarce  necessary 
to  say,  that  he  saw  no  communication  with  the  room  of 
Brenhilda,  which  convinced  him  that  they  had  been  sepa- 
rated the  evening  before,  under  pretence  of  devotional 
scruples,  in  order  to  accomphsh  some  most  villainous  de- 
sign upon  one  or  both  of  them.  His  own  part  of  the  night's 
adventure  we  have  already  seen ;  and  success  so  far,  over 
so  formidable  a  danger,  gave  him  a  trembling  hope  that 
Brenhilda,  by  her  own  worth  and  valour,  would  be  able 
to  defend  herself  against  all  attacks  of  fraud  or  force 
until  he  could  find  his  way  to  her  rescue.  '  I  should  have 
paid  more  regard,'  he  said,  'to  Bohemond's  caution  last 
night,  who,  I  think,  intimated  to  me  as  plainly  as  if  he 
had  spoke  it  in  direct  terms  that  that  same  cup  of  wine 
was  a  drugged  potion.  But  then,  fie  upon  him  for  an  ava- 
ricious hound!  how  was  it  possible  I  should  think  he 
suspected  any  such  thing,  when  he  spoke  not  out  like  a 
man,  but,  for  sheer  coldness  of  heart  or  base  self-interest, 
suffered  me  to  run  the  risk  of  being  poisoned  by  the  wily 
despot?' 

Here  he  heard  a  voice  from  the  same  quarter  as  before. 
'Ho,  there!  Ho,  stranger!  Do  you  live,  or  have  you 
been  murdered?  What  means  this  stifling  smell  of  smoke? 
For  God's  sake,  answer  him  who  can  receive  no  informa- 
tion from  eyes  closed,  alas,  for  ever!' 

'I  am  at  liberty,'  said  the  Count,  'and  the  monster 
destined  to  devour  me  has  groaned  its  last.  I  would,  my 
friend  Ursel,  since  such  is  thy  name,  thou  hadst  the  ad- 
vantage of  thine  eyes,  to  have  borne  witness  to  yonder 
combat;  it  had  been  worth  thy  while,  though  thou 
shouldst  have  lost  them  a  minute  afterwards,  and  it 

274 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

would  have  greatly  advantaged  whoever  shall  have  the 
task  of  compiling  my  history.' 

While  he  gave  a  thought  to  that  vanity  which  strongly 
ruled  him,  he  lost  no  time  in  seeking  some  mode  of  es- 
cape from  the  dungeon,  for  by  that  means  only  might  he 
hope  to  recover  his  countess.  At  last  he  found  an  en- 
trance in  the  wall,  but  it  was  strongly  locked  and  bolted. 
*I  have  found  the  passage,'  he  called  out;  'and  its  direc- 
tion is  the  same  in  which  thy  voice  is  heard.  But  how 
shall  I  undo  the  door? ' 

'I'll  teach  thee  that  secret,'  said  Ursel.  'I  would  I 
could  as  easily  unlock  each  bolt  that  withholds  us  from 
the  open  air;  but  as  for  thy  seclusion  within  the  dun- 
geon, heave  up  the  door  by  main  strength,  and  thou 
shalt  lift  the  locks  to  a  place  where,  pushing  then  the 
door  from  thee,  the  fastenings  will  find  a  grooved  pas- 
sage in  the  wall,  and  the  door  itself  will  open.  Would 
that  I  could  indeed  see  thee,  not  only  because,  being  a 
gallant  man,  thou  must  be  a  goodly  sight,  but  also  be- 
cause I  should  thereby  know  that  I  was  not  caverned  in 
darkness  for  ever.' 

While  he  spoke  thus,  the  Count  made  a  bundle  of  his 
armour,  from  which  he  missed  nothing  except  his  sword, 
Tranchefer,  and  then  proceeded  to  try  what  efforts  he 
could  make,  according  to  the  blind  man's  instructions, 
to  open  the  door  of  his  prison-house.  Pushing  in  a  direct 
line  was,  he  soon  found,  attended  with  no  effect;  but 
when  he  applied  his  gigantic  strength,  and  raised  the  door 
as  high  as  it  would  go,  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  find  that 
the  bolts  yielded,  though  reluctantly.  A  space  had  been 
cut  so  as  to  allow  them  to  move  out  of  the  socket  into 
which  they  had  been  forced;  and  without  the  turn  of  a 

275 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

key,  but  by  a  powerful  thrust  forwards,  a  small  passage 
was  left  open.  The  knight  entered,  bearing  his  armour 
in  his  hand. 

*I  hear  thee,'  said  Ursel,  *0  stranger!  and  am  aware 
thou  art  come  into  my  place  of  captivity.  For  three  years 
have  I  been  employed  in  cutting  these  grooves,  corre- 
sponding to  the  sockets  which  hold  these  iron  bolts,  and 
preserving  the  knowledge  of  the  secret  from  the  prison- 
keepers.  Twenty  such  bolts,  perhaps,  must  be  sawn 
through  ere  my  steps  shall  approach  the  upper  air. 
What  prospect  is  there  that  I  shall  have  strength  of 
mind  sufficient  to  continue  the  task?  Yet,  credit  me, 
noble  stranger,  I  rejoice  in  having  been  thus  far  aiding 
to  thy  deliverance;  for  if  Heaven  blesses  not,  in  any 
further  degree,  our  aspirations  after  freedom,  we  may 
still  be  a  comfort  to  each  other,  while  tyranny  permits 
our  mutual  life.' 

Count  Robert  looked  around,  and  shuddered  that  a 
human  being  should  talk  of  anything  approaching  to 
comfort  connected  with  his  residence  in  what  seemed 
a  living  tomb.  Ursel 's  dungeon  was  not  above  twelve 
feet  square,  vaulted  in  the  roof,  and  strongly  built  in  the 
walls  by  stones  which  the  chisel  had  morticed  closely 
together.  A  bed,  a  coarse  footstool,  like  that  which 
Robert  had  Just  launched  at  the  head  of  the  tiger,  and  a 
table  of  equally  massive  materials,  were  its  only  articles 
of  furniture.  On  a  long  stone  above  the  bed  were  these 
few,  but  terrible  words:  'Zedekias  Ursel,  imprisoned  here 

on  the  Ides  of  March,  a.d. ,  Died  and  interred  on 

the  spot .'  A  blank  was  left  for  filling  up  the  period. 

The  figure  of  the  captive  could  hardly  be  discerned  amid 
the  wildness  of  his  dress  and  dishabille.  The  hair  of  his 

276 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

head,  uncut  and  uncombed,  descended  in  elf-locks,  and 
mingled  with  a  beard  of  extravagant  length. 

'Look  on  me,'  said  the  captive,  'and  rejoice  that  thou 
canst  yet  see  the  wretched  condition  to  which  iron- 
hearted  tyranny  can  reduce  a  fellow-creature,  both  in 
mortal  existence  and  in  future  hope.' 

'Was  it  thou,'  said  Count  Robert,  whose  blood  ran 
cold  in  his  veins, '  that  hadst  the  heart  to  spend  thy  time 
in  sawing  through  the  blocks  of  stone  by  which  these 
bolts  are  secured?' 

'Alas!'  said  Ursel,  'what  could  a  blind  man  do?  Busy 
I  must  be,  if  I  would  preserve  my  senses.  Great  as  the 
labour  was,  it  was  to  me  the  task  of  three  years;  nor  can 
you  wonder  that  I  should  have  devoted  to  it  my  whole 
time,  when  I  had  no  other  means  of  occupying  it.  Per- 
haps, and  most  likely,  my  dungeon  does  not  admit  the 
distinction  of  day  and  night;  but  a  distant  cathedral 
clock  told  me  how  hour  after  hour  fled  away,  and  found 
me  expending  them  in  rubbing  one  stone  against  an- 
other. But  when  the  door  gave  way,  I  found  I  had  only 
cut  an  access  into  a  prison  more  strong  than  that  which 
held  me.  I  rejoice,  nevertheless,  since  it  has  brought  us 
together,  given  thee  an  entrance  to  my  dungeon,  and  me 
a  companion  in  my  misery.' 

'Think  better  than  that,'  said  Count  Robert  —  '  think 
of  liberty  —  think  of  revenge.  I  cannot  believe  such  un- 
just treachery  will  end  successfully,  else  needs  must  I 
say  the  Heavens  are  less  just  than  priests  tell  us  of.  How 
art  thou  supplied  with  food  in  this  dungeon  of  thine? ' 

*A  warder,'  said  Ursel,  'and  who,  I  think,  under- 
stands not  the  Greek  language  —  at  least  he  never 
either  answers  or  addresses  me  —  brings  a  loaf  and  a 

277 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

pitcher  of  water,  enough  to  supply  my  miserable  life  till 
two  days  are  past.  I  must,  therefore,  pray  that  you  will 
retire  for  a  space  into  the  next  prison,  so  that  the  warder 
may  have  no  means  of  knowing  that  we  can  hold  corre- 
spondence together.' 

'I  see  not,'  said  Count  Robert,  'by  what  access  the 
barbarian,  if  he  is  one,  can  enter  my  dungeon  without 
passing  through  yours;  but  no  matter,  I  will  retire  into 
the  inner  or  outer  room,  whichever  it  happens  to  be, 
and  be  thou  then  well  aware  that  the  warder  will  have 
some  one  to  grapple  with  ere  he  leaves  his  prison-work 
to-day.  Meanwhile,  think  thyself  dumb  as  thou  art 
blind,  and  be  assured  that  the  offer  of  freedom  itself 
would  not  induce  me  to  desert  the  cause  of  a  companion 
in  adversity.' 

'Alas,'  said  the  old  man,  'I  listen  to  thy  promises  as  I 
should  to  those  of  the  morning  gale,  which  tells  me  that 
the  sun  is  about  to  arise,  although  I  know  that  I  at  least 
shall  never  behold  it.  Thou  art  one  of  those  wild  and  un- 
despairing  knights  whom  for  so  many  years  the  west  of 
Europe  hath  sent  forth  to  attempt  impossibilities,  and 
from  thee,  therefore,  I  can  only  hope  for  such  a  fabric 
of  relief  as  an  idle  boy  would  blow  out  of  soap  bubbles.' 

'Think  better  of  us,  old  man,'  said  Count  Robert,  re- 
tiring; 'at  least  let  me  die  with  my  blood  warm,  and  be- 
lieving it  possible  for  me  to  be  once  more  united  to  my 
beloved  Brenhilda.' 

So  sa}dng,  he  retired  into  his  own  cell,  and  replaced 
the  door,  so  that  the  operations  of  Ursel,  which  indeed 
were  only  such  as  three  years'  solitude  could  have 
achieved,  should  escape  observation  when  again  visited 
by  the  warder.   'It  is  ill  luck,'  said  he,  when  once  more 

278 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

within  his  own  prison  —  for  that  in  which  the  tiger  had 
been  secured  he  instinctively  concluded  to  be  destined 
for  him  — '  it  is  ill  luck  that  I  had  not  found  a  young  and 
able  fellow-captive,  instead  of  one  decrepit  by  imprison- 
ment, blind,  and  broken  down  past  exertion.  But  God's 
will  be  done !  I  will  not  leave  behind  me  the  poor  wretch 
whom  I  have  found  in  such  a  condition,  though  he  is 
perfectly  unable  to  assist  me  in  accomplishing  my  es- 
cape, and  is  rather  more  likely  to  retard  it.  Meantime, 
before  we  put  out  the  torch,  let  us  see  if,  by  close  exami- 
nation, we  can  discover  any  door  in  the  wall  save  that 
to  the  blind  man's  dungeon.  If  not,  I  much  suspect  that 
my  descent  has  been  made  through  the  roof.  That  cup 
of  wine  —  that  Muse,  as  they  called  it  —  had  a  taste 
more  like  medicine  than  merry  companions'  pledge.' 

He  began  accordingly  a  strict  survey  of  the  walls, 
which  he  resolved  to  conclude  by  extinguishing  the  torch, 
that  he  might  take  the  person  who  should  enter  his  dun- 
geon darkling  and  by  surprise.  For  a  similar  reason,  he 
dragged  into  the  darkest  corner  the  carcass  of  the  tiger, 
and  covered  it  with  the  remains  of  the  bedclothes,  swear- 
ing at  the  same  time,  that  a  half  tiger  should  be  his  crest 
in  future,  if  he  had  the  fortune,  which  his  bold  heart  would 
not  suffer  him  to  doubt,  of  getting  through  the  present 
danger.  'But,'  he  added,  'if  these  necromantic  vassals 
of  hell  shall  raise  the  devil  upon  me,  what  shall  I  do  then? 
And  so  great  is  the  chance,  that  methinks  I  would  fain 
dispense  with  extinguishing  the  flambeau.  Yet  it  is 
childish  for  one  dubbed  in  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  the 
Broken  Lances  to  make  much  difference  between  a  light 
room  and  a  dark  one.  Let  them  come,  as  many  fiends  as 
the  cell  can  hold,  and  we  shall  see  if  we  receive  them  not 

279 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

as  becomes  a  Christian  knight;  and  surely  Our  Lady,  to 
whom  I  was  ever  a  true  votary,  will  hold  it  an  acceptable 
sacrifice  that  I  tore  myself  from  my  Brenhilda,  even  for 
a  single  moment,  in  honour  of  her  Advent,  and  thus  led 
the  way  for  our  woful  separation.  Fiends !  I  defy  ye  in 
the  body  as  in  the  spirit,  and  I  retain  the  remains  of  this 
flambeau  until  some  more  convenient  opportunity.'  He 
dashed  it  against  the  wall  as  he  spoke,  and  then  quietly 
sat  down  in  a  corner  to  watch  what  should  next  happen. 
Thought  after  thought  chased  each  other  through  his 
mind.  His  confidence  in  his  wife's  fidelity,  and  his  trust 
in  her  uncommon  strength  and  activity,  were  the  great- 
est comforts  which  he  had ;  nor  could  her  danger  present 
itself  to  him  in  any  shape  so  terrible,  but  that  he  found 
consolation  in  these  reflections:  'She  is  pure,'  he  said, 
*as  the  dew  of  heaven,  and  Heaven  will  not  abandon  its 
own.' 


CHAPTER  XVI 

strange  ape  of  man!  who  loathes  thee  while  he  scorns  thee; 

Half  a  reproach  to  us  and  half  a  jest. 

What  fancies  can  be  ours  ere  we  have  pleasure 

In  viewing  our  own  form,  our  pride  and  passions, 

Reflected  in  a  shape  grotesque  as  thine? 

Anonymous. 

Count  Robert  of  Paris,  having  ensconced  himself 
behind  the  ruins  of  the  bed,  so  that  he  could  not  well  be 
observed,  unless  a  strong  light  was  at  once  flung  upon  the 
place  of  his  retreat,  waited  with  anxiety  how  and  in 
what  manner  the  warder  of  the  dungeon,  charged  with 
the  task  of  bringing  food  to  the  prisoners,  should  make 
himself  visible;  nor  was  it  long  ere  symptoms  of  his 
approach  began  to  be  heard  and  observed. 

A  light  was  partially  seen,  as  from  a  trap-door  open- 
ing in  the  roof,  and  a  voice  was  heard  to  utter  these 
words  in  Anglo-Saxon,  'Leap,  sirrah;  come,  no  delay; 
leap,  my  good  Sylvan,  show  your  honour's  activity.'  A 
strange,  chuckling  hoarse  voice,  in  a  language  totally 
unintelligible  to  Count  Robert,  was  heard  to  respond, 
as  if  disputing  the  orders  which  were  received. 

'What,  sir,'  said  his  companion,  'you  must  contest  the 
point,  must  you?  Nay,  if  thou  art  so  lazy,  I  must  give 
your  honour  a  ladder,  and  perhaps  a  kick  to  hasten  your 
journey.'  Something  then,  of  very  great  size,  in  the 
form  of  a  human  being,  jumped  down  from  the  trap- 
door, though  the  height  might  be  above  fourteen  feet. 
This  figure  was  gigantic,  being  upwards  of  seven  feet 
high.  In  its  left  hand  it  held  a  torch,  and  in  its  right  a 

281 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

skein  of  fine  silk,  which,  unwinding  itself  as  it  descended, 
remained  unbroken,  though  it  was  easy  to  conceive  it 
could  not  have  afforded  a  creature  so  large  any  support  in 
his  descent  from  the  roof.  He  alighted  with  perfect  safety 
and  activity  upon  his  feet,  and,  as  if  rebounding  from  the 
floor,  he  sprung  upwards  again,  so  as  almost  to  touch  the 
roof.  In  this  last  gambaud  the  torch  which  he  bore  was 
extinguished ;  but  this  extraordinary  warder  whirled  it 
round  his  head  with  infinite  velocity,  so  that  it  again 
ignited.  The  bearer,  who  appeared  to  intend  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  object,  endeavoured  to  satisfy 
himself  that  it  was  really  attained,  by  approaching,  as  if 
cautiously,  its  left  hand  to  the  flame  of  the  torch.  This 
practical  experiment  seemed  attended  with  consequences 
which  the  creature  had  not  expected,  for  it  howled  with 
pain,  shaking  the  burnt  hand,  and  chattering  as  if 
bemoaning  itself. 

'Take  heed  there,  Sylvanus,'  said  the  same  voice  in 
Anglo-Saxon,  and  in  a  tone  of  rebuke.  'Ho,  there!  mind 
thy  duty,  Sylvan.  Carry  food  to  the  blind  man,  and 
stand  not  there  to  play  thyself,  lest  I  trust  thee  not 
again  alone  on  such  an  errand.' 

The  creature  —  for  it  would  have  been  rash  to  have 
termed  it  a  man  —  turning  its  eye  upwards  to  the  place 
from  whence  the  voice  came,  answered  with  a  dreadful 
grin  and  shaking  of  its  fist,  yet  presently  began  to  undo  a 
parcel,  and  rummage  in  the  pockets  of  a  sort  of  jerkin 
and  pantaloons  which  it  wore,  seeking,  it  appeared,  a 
bunch  of  keys,  which  at  length  it  produced,  while  it 
took  from  the  pocket  a  loaf  of  bread.  Heating  the  stone 
of  the  wall,  it  affixed  the  torch  to  it  by  a  piece  of  wax,  and 
then  cautiously  looked  out  for  the  entrance  to  the  old 

282 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

man's  dungeon,  which  it  opened  with  a  key  selected 
from  the  bunch.  Within  the  passage  it  seemed  to  look 
for  and  discover  the  handle  of  a  pump,  at  which  it  filled 
a  pitcher  that  it  bore,  and  bringing  back  the  fragments  of 
the  former  loaf,  and  remains  of  the  pitcher  of  water,  it 
eat  a  Uttle,  as  if  it  were  in  sport,  and  very  soon,  making  a 
frightful  grimace,  flung  the  fragments  away.  The  Count 
of  Paris,  in  the  meanwhile,  watched  anxiously  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  unknown  animal.  His  first  thought  was, 
that  the  creature,  whose  limbs  were  so  much  larger  than 
humanity,  whose  grimaces  were  so  frightful,  and  whose 
activity  seemed  supernatural,  could  be  no  other  than  the 
Devil  himself,  or  some  of  his  imps,  whose  situation  and 
office  in  those  gloomy  regions  seemed  by  no  means  hard 
to  conjecture.  The  human  voice,  however,  which  he  had 
heard  was  less  that  of  a  necromancer  conjuring  a  fiend 
than  that  of  a  person  giving  commands  to  a  wild  animal, 
over  whom  he  had,  by  training,  obtained  a  great  superi- 
ority. 

*A  shame  on  it,'  said  the  Count,  'if  I  suffer  a  common 
jackanapes  —  for  such  I  take  this  devil-seeming  beast 
to  be,  although  twice  as  large  as  any  of  its  fellows  whom 
I  have  ever  seen  —  to  throw  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
my  obtaining  daylight  and  freedom!  Let  us  but  watch, 
and  the  chance  is  that  we  make  that  furry  gentleman  our 
guide  to  the  upper  regions.' 

Meantime  the  creature,  which  rummaged  about  every- 
where, at  length  discovered  the  body  of  the  tiger,  touched 
it,  stirred  it,  with  many  strange  motions,  and  seemed  to 
lament  and  wonder  at  its  death.  At  once  it  seemed 
struck  with  the  idea  that  some  one  must  have  slain  it, 
and  Count  Robert  had  the  mortification  to  see  it  once 

283 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

more  select  the  key,  and  spring  towards  the  door  of 
Ursel's  prison  with  such  alacrity  that,  had  its  intention 
been  to  strangle  him,  it  would  have  accomplished  its 
purpose  before  the  interference  of  Count  Robert  could 
have  prevented  its  revenge  taking  place.  Apparently, 
however,  it  reflected  that,  for  reasons  which  seemed 
satisfactory,  the  death  of  the  tiger  could  not  be  caused 
by  the  unfortunate  Ursel,  but  had  been  accompHshed  by 
some  one  concealed  within  the  outer  prison. 

Slowly  grumbHng,  therefore,  and  chattering  to  itself, 
and  peeping  anxiously  into  every  corner,  the  tremendous 
creature,  so  like,  yet  so  very  unlike,  to  the  human  form, 
came  stealing  along  the  walls,  moving  whatever  he 
thought  could  seclude  a  man  from  his  observation.  Its 
extended  legs  and  arms  were  protruded  forward  with 
great  strides,  and  its  sharp  eyes,  on  the  watch  to  dis- 
cover the  object  of  its  search,  kept  prying,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  torch,  into  every  corner. 

Considering  the  vicinity  of  Alexius's  collection  of  ani- 
mals, the  reader,  by  this  time,  can  have  little  doubt  that 
the  creature  in  question,  whose  appearance  seemed  to 
the  Count  of  Paris  so  very  problematical,  was  a  speci- 
men of  that  gigantic  species  of  ape  —  if  it  is  not  indeed 
some  animal  more  nearly  allied  to  ourselves  —  to  which, 
I  believe,  naturalists  have  given  the  name  of  the  ourang- 
outang.  This  creature  differs  from  the  rest  of  its  frater- 
nity, in  being  comparatively  more  docile  and  service- 
able ;  and  though  possessing  the  power  of  imitation  which 
is  common  to  the  whole  race,  yet  making  use  of  it  less  in 
mere  mockery  than  in  the  desire  of  improvement  and 
instruction  perfectly  unknown  to  his  brethren.  The  apti- 
tude which  it  possesses  of  acquiring  information  is  sur- 

284 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

prisingly  great,  and  probably,  if  placed  in  a  favourable 
situation,  it  might  admit  of  being  domesticated  in  a 
considerable  degree;  but  such  advantages  the  ardour  of 
scientific  curiosity  has  never  afforded  this  creature.  The 
last  we  have  heard  of  was  seen,  we  believe,  in  the  Island 
of  Sumatra ;  it  was  of  great  size  and  strength,  and  up- 
wards of  seven  feet  high.  It  died  defending  desperately 
its  innocent  life  against  a  party  of  Europeans,  who,  we 
cannot  help  thinking,  might  have  better  employed  the 
superiority  which  their  knowledge  gave  them  over  the 
poor  native  of  the  forest.  It  was  probably  this  creature, 
seldom  seen,  but  when  once  seen  never  forgotten,  which 
occasioned  the  ancient  belief  in  the  god  Pan,  with  his 
sylvans  and  satyrs.  Nay,  but  for  the  gift  of  speech, 
which  we  cannot  suppose  any  of  the  family  to  have 
attained,  we  should  have  believed  the  satyr  seen  by  St. 
Anthony  in  the  desert  to  have  belonged  to  this  tribe. 

We  can,  therefore,  the  more  easily  credit  the  annals 
which  attest  that  the  collection  of  natural  history  belong- 
ing to  Alexius  Comnenus  preserved  an  animal  of  this 
kind,  which  had  been  domesticated  and  reclaimed  to  a 
surprising  extent,  and  showed  a  degree  of  intelligence 
never  perhaps  to  be  attained  in  any  other  case.  These 
explanations  being  premised,  we  return  to  the  thread  of 
our  story. 

The  animal  advanced  with  long  noiseless  steps;  its 
shadow  on  the  wall,  when  it  held  the  torch  so  as  to  make 
it  visible  to  the  Frank,  forming  another  fiend-resembling 
mimicry  of  its  own  large  figure  and  extravagant-looking 
members.  Count  Robert  remained  in  his  lurking-hole, 
in  no  hurry  to  begin  a  strife  of  which  it  was  impossible  to 
foretell  the  end.  In  the  meantime,  the  man  of  the  woods 

28s 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

came  nigh,  and  every  step  by  which  he  approached 
caused  the  Count's  heart  to  vibrate  almost  audibly,  at 
the  idea  of  meeting  danger  of  a  nature  so  strange  and 
new.  At  length  the  creature  approached  the  bed;  his  hid- 
eous eyes  were  fixed  on  those  of  the  Count;  and,  as  much 
surprised  at  seeing  him  as  Robert  was  at  the  meeting, 
he  skipped  about  fifteen  paces  backwards  at  one  spring, 
with  a  cry  of  instinctive  terror,  and  then  advanced  on  tip- 
toe, holding  his  torch  as  far  forward  as  he  could  between 
him  and  the  object  of  his  fears,  as  if  to  examine  him  at 
the  safest  possible  distance.  Count  Robert  caught  up  a 
fragment  of  the  bedstead,  large  enough  to  form  a  sort  of 
club,  with  which  he  menaced  the  native  of  the  wilds. 

Apparently  this  poor  creature's  education,  like  educa- 
tion of  most  kinds,  had  not  been  acquired  without  blows, 
of  which  the  recollection  was  as  fresh  as  that  of  the  les- 
sons which  they  enforced.  Sir  Robert  of  Paris  was  a 
man  at  once  to  discover  and  to  avail  himself  of  the  ad- 
vantage obtained  by  finding  that  he  possessed  a  degree 
of  ascendency  over  his  enemy  which  he  had  not  sus- 
pected. He  erected  his  warlike  figure,  assumed  a  step  as 
if  triumphant  in  the  lists,  and  advanced  threatening  his 
enemy  with  his  club,  as  he  would  have  menaced  his 
antagonist  with  the  redoubtable  Tranchefer.  The  man 
of  the  woods,  on  the  other  hand,  obviously  gave  way, 
and  converted  his  cautious  advance  into  a  retreat  no 
less  cautious.  Yet  apparently  the  creature  had  not  re- 
noimced  some  plan  of  resistance :  he  chattered  in  an  angry 
and  hostile  tone,  held  out  his  torch  in  opposition,  and 
seemed  about  to  strike  the  crusader  with  it.  Count 
Robert,  however,  determined  to  take  his  opponent  at 
advantage,  while  his  fears  influenced  him,  and  for  this 

286 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

purpose  resolved,  if  possible,  to  deprive  him  of  his  natu- 
ral superiority  in  strength  and  agility,  which  his  singular 
form  showed  he  could  not  but  possess  over  the  human 
species.  A  master  of  his  weapon,  therefore,  the  Count 
menaced  his  savage  antagonist  with  a  stroke  on  the 
right  side  of  his  head,  but  suddenly  averting  the  blow, 
struck  him  with  his  whole  force  on  the  left  temple,  and 
in  an  instant  was  kneeling  above  him,  when,  drawing  his 
dagger,  he  was  about  to  deprive  him  of  life. 

The  ourang-outang,  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  this  new 
weapon  with  which  he  was  threatened,  attempted  at 
one  and  the  same  moment  to  rise  from  the  ground,  over- 
throw his  antagonist,  and  wrench  the  dagger  from  his 
grasp.  In  the  first  attempt  he  would  probably  have  suc- 
ceeded; and  as  it  was,  he  gained  his  knees,  and  seemed 
likely  to  prevail  in  the  struggle,  when  he  became  sensible 
that  the  knight,  drawing  his  poniard  sharply  through  his 
grasp,  had  cut  his  paw  severely,  and  seeing  him  aim  the 
trenchant  weapon  at  his  throat,  became  probably  aware 
that  his  enemy  had  his  life  at  command.  He  suffered 
himself  to  be  borne  backwards  without  further  resist- 
ance, with  a  deep  wailing  and  melancholy  cry,  having  in 
it  something  human,  which  excited  compassion.  He 
covered  his  eyes  with  the  unwounded  hand,  as  if  he 
would  have  hid  from  his  own  sight  the  death  which 
seemed  approaching  him. 

Count  Robert,  notwithstanding  his  military  frenzy, 
was,  in  ordinary  matters,  a  calm-tempered  and  mild 
man,  and  particularly  benevolent  to  the  lower  classes  of 
creation.  The  thought  rushed  through  his  mind,  'Why 
take  from  this  unfortunate  monster  the  breath  which  is 
in  its  nostrils,  after  which  it  cannot  know  another  exist- 

287 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ence?  And  then,  may  it  not  be  some  prince  or  knight 
changed  to  this  grotesque  shape,  that  it  may  help  to 
guard  these  vaults,  and  the  wonderful  adventures  that 
attach  to  them?  Should  I  not,  then,  be  guilty  of  a  crime 
by  slaying  him,  when  he  has  rendered  himself,  rescue  or 
no  rescue,  which  he  has  done  as  completely  as  his  trans- 
formed figure  permits;  and  if  he  be  actually  a  bestial 
creature,  may  he  not  have  some  touch  of  gratitude?  I 
have  heard  the  minstrels  sing  the  lay  of  "  Androcles  and 
the  Lion."  I  will  be  on  my  guard  with  him.' 

So  saying,  he  rose  from  above  the  man  of  the  woods, 
and  permitted  him  also  to  arise.  The  creature  seemed 
sensible  of  the  clemency,  for  he  muttered,  in  a  low  and 
supplicating  tone,  which  seemed  at  once  to  crave  for 
mercy  and  to  return  thanks  for  what  he  had  already 
experienced.  He  wept  too,  as  he  saw  the  blood  dropping 
from  his  wound,  and  with  an  anxious  countenance,  which 
had  more  of  the  human  now  that  it  was  composed  into 
an  expression  of  pain  and  melancholy,  seemed  to  await 
in  terror  the  doom  of  a  being  more  powerful  than  him- 
self. 

The  pocket  which  the  knight  wore  under  his  armour, 
capable  of  containing  but  few  things,  had,  however, 
some  vulnerary  balsam,  for  which  its  owner  had  often 
occasion,  a  little  lint,  and  a  small  roll  of  linen;  these  the 
knight  took  out,  and  motioned  to  the  animal  to  hold 
forth  his  wounded  hand.  The  man  of  the  woods  obeyed 
with  hesitation  and  reluctance,  and  Count  Robert  ap- 
plied the  balsam  and  the  dressings,  acquainting  his 
patient,  at  the  same  time,  in  a  severe  tone  of  voice,  that 
perhaps  he  did  wrong  in  putting  to  his  use  a  balsam 
compounded  for  the  service  of  the  noblest  knights;  but 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

that,  if  he  saw  the  least  sign  of  his  making  an  ungrateful 
use  of  the  benefit  he  had  conferred,  he  would  bury  the 
dagger,  of  which  he  had  felt  the  efficacy,  to  the  very 
handle  in  his  body. 

The  sylvan  looked  fixedly  upon  Count  Robert  almost 
as  if  he  understood  the  language  used  to  him,  and,  mak- 
ing one  of  its  native  murmurs,  it  stooped  to  the  earth, 
kissed  the  feet  of  the  knight,  and,  embracing  his  knees, 
seemed  to  swear  to  him  eternal  gratitude  and  fidelity. 
Accordingly,  when  the  Count  retired  to  the  bed  and 
assumed  his  armour,  to  await  the  reopening  of  the  trap- 
door, the  animal  sat  down  by  his  side,  directing  its  eyes 
in  the  line  with  his,  and  seemed  quietly  to  wait  till  the 
door  should  open. 

After  waiting  about  an  hour,  a  slight  noise  was  heard 
in  the  upper  chamber,  and  the  wild  man  plucked  the 
Frank  by  the  cloak,  as  if  to  call  his  attention  to  what 
was  about  to  happen.  The  same  voice  which  had  before 
spoken,  was,  after  a  whistle  or  two,  heard  to  call, '  Sylvan 
—  Sylvan,  where  loiterest  thou?  Come  instantly,  or, 
by  the  rood,  thou  shalt  abye  thy  sloth.' 

The  poor  monster,  as  Trinculo  might  have  called  him, 
seemed  perfectly  aware  of  the  meaning  of  this  threat, 
and  showed  his  sense  of  it  by  pressing  close  to  the  side  of 
Count  Robert,  making  at  the  same  time  a  kind  of  whin- 
ing, entreating,  it  would  seem,  the  knight's  protection. 
Forgetting  the  great  improbability  there  was,  even  in  his 
own  opinion,  that  the  creature  could  understand  him. 
Count  Robert  said,  'Why,  my  friend,  thou  hast  already 
learned  the  principal  court  prayer  of  this  country,  by 
which  men  entreat  permission  to  speak  and  live.  Fear 
nothing,  poor  creature  —  I  am  thy  protector.' 

43  289 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Sylvan,  what,  ho!'  said  the  voice  again;  'whom  hast 
thou  got  for  a  companion?  Some  of  the  fiends,  or  ghosts 
of  murdered  men,  who  they  say  are  frequent  in  these 
dungeons?  Or  dost  thou  converse  with  the  old  blind 
rebel  Grecian?  Or,  finally,  is  it  true  what  men  say  of 
thee,  that  thou  canst  talk  intelligibly  when  thou  wilt, 
and  only  gibberest  and  chatterest  for  fear  thou  art  sent 
to  work?  Come,  thou  lazy  rascal,  thou  shalt  have  the 
advantage  of  the  ladder  to  ascend  by,  though  thou 
needst  it  no  more  than  a  daw  to  ascend  the  steeple  of  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Sophia.^  Come  along,  then,'  he  said, 
putting  a  ladder  down  the  trap-door,  'and  put  me  not  to 
the  trouble  of  descending  to  fetch  thee,  else,  by  St. 
Swithin,  it  shall  be  the  worse  for  thee.  Come  along, 
therefore,  like  a  good  fellow,  and  for  once  I  shall  spare 
the  whip.' 

The  animal,  apparently,  was  moved  by  this  rhetoric, 
for,  with  a  doleful  look,  which  Count  Robert  saw  by 
means  of  the  nearly  extinguished  torch,  he  seemed  to  bid 
him  farewell,  and  to  creep  away  towards  the  ladder  with 
the  same  excellent  good-will  wherewith  a  condemned 
criminal  performs  the  like  evolution.  But  no  sooner  did 
the  Count  look  angry  and  shake  the  formidable  dagger 
than  the  intelligent  animal  seemed  at  once  to  take  his 
resolution,  and  clenching  his  hands  firmly  together  in 
the  fashion  of  one  who  has  made  up  his  mind,  he  returned 
from  the  ladder's  foot,  and  drew  up  behind  Count 
Robert,  with  the  air,  however,  of  a  deserter,  who  feels 
himself  but  little  at  home  when  called  into  the  field 
against  his  ancient  commander. 

In  a  short  time  the  warder's  patience  was  exhausted, 

'  Now  the  chief  mosque  of  the  Ottoman  capital. 
290 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  despairing  of  the  syl van's  voluntary  return,  he 
resolved  to  descend  in  quest  of  him.  Down  the  ladder  he 
came,  a  bundle  of  keys  in  one  hand,  the  other  assisting 
his  descent,  and  a  sort  of  dark  lantern,  whose  bottom 
was  so  fashioned  that  he  could  wear  it  upon  his  head 
like  a  hat.  He  had  scarce  stept  on  the  floor  when  he  was 
surrounded  by  the  nervous  arms  of  the  Count  of  Paris. 
At  first  the  warder's  idea  was  that  he  was  seized  by  the 
recusant  Sylvan. 

'How  now,  villain,'  he  said;  'let  me  go,  or  thou  shalt 
die  the  death.' 

'Thou  diest  thyself,'  said  the  Count,  who,  between 
the  surprise  and  his  own  skill  in  wrestling,  felt  fully  his 
advantage  in  the  struggle. 

'  Treason  —  treason ! '  cried  the  warder,  hearing  by  the 
voice  that  a  stranger  had  mingled  in  the  contest.  'Help, 
ho!  above  there!  —  help,  Here  ward  —  Varangian  — 
Anglo-Saxon,  or  whatever  accursed  name  thou  callest 
thyself!' 

While  he  spoke  thus,  the  irresistible  grasp  of  Count 
Robert  seized  his  throat  and  choked  his  utterance.  They 
fell  heavily,  the  jailer  undermost,  upon  the  floor  of  the 
dungeon,  and  Robert  of  Paris,  the  necessity  of  whose  case 
excused  the  action,  plunged  his  dagger  in  the  throat  of 
the  unfortunate.  Just  as  he  did  so,  a  noise  of  armour  was 
heard,  and,  rattling  down  the  ladder,  our  acquaintance 
Hereward  stood  on  the  floor  of  the  dungeon.  The  light, 
which  had  rolled  from  the  head  of  the  warder,  continued 
to  show  him  streaming  with  blood  and  in  the  death- 
grasp  of  the  stranger.  Hereward  hesitated  not  to  fly  to 
his  assistance,  and,  seizing  upon  the  Count  of  Paris,  at 
the  same  advantage  which  that  knight  had  gained  over 

291 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

his  own  adversary  a  moment  before,  held  him  forcibly 
down  with  his  face  to  the  earth. 

Count  Robert  was  one  of  the  strongest  men  of  that 
military  age,  but  then  so  was  the  Varangian;  and,  save 
that  the  latter  had  obtained  a  decided  advantage  by 
having  his  antagonist  beneath  him,  it  could  not  certainly 
have  been  conjectured  which  way  the  combat  was  to  go. 

'Yield,  as  your  own  jargon  goes,  rescue  or  no  rescue.' 
said  the  Varangian,  'or  die  on  the  point  of  my  dagger.' 

'A  French  count  never  yields,'  answered  Robert,  who 
began  to  conjecture  with  what  sort  of  person  he  was 
engaged,  'above  all  to  a  vagabond  slave  like  thee.'  With 
this  he  made  an  effort  to  rise,  so  sudden,  so  strong,  so 
powerful,  that  he  had  almost  freed  himself  from  the 
Varangian's  grasp,  had  not  Hereward,  by  a  violent  exer- 
tion of  his  great  strength,  preserved  the  advantage  he 
had  gained,  and  raised  his  poniard  to  end  the  strife  for 
ever ;  but  a  loud  chuckling  laugh  of  an  unearthly  sound 
was  at  this  instant  heard.  The  Varangian's  extended 
arm  was  seized  with  vigour,  while  a  rough  arm,  embrac- 
ing his  throat,  turned  him  over  on  his  back,  and  gave 
the  French  count  an  opportunity  of  springing  up. 

'Death  to  thee,  wretch!'  said  the  Varangian,  scarce 
knowing  whom  he  threatened;  but  the  man  of  the  woods 
apparently  had  an  awful  recollection  of  the  prowess  of 
human  beings.  He  fled,  therefore,  swiftly  up  the  ladder, 
and  left  Hereward  and  his  deliverer  to  fight  it  out  with 
what  success  chance  might  determine  between  them. 

The  circumstances  seemed  to  argue  a  desperate  com- 
bat. Both  were  tall,  strong,  and  courageous,  both  had 
defensive  armour,  and  the  fatal  and  desperate  poniard 
was  their  only  offensive  weapon.   They  paused  facing 

292 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

each  other,  and  examined  eagerly  into  their  respective 
means  of  defence  before  hazarding  a  blow  which,  if  it 
missed  its  attaint,  would  certainly  be  fatally  requited. 
During  this  deadly  pause,  a  gleam  shone  from  the  trap- 
door above,  as  the  wild  and  alarmed  visage  of  the  man 
of  the  woods  was  seen  peering  down  by  the  light  of  a 
newly-kindled  torch  which  he  held  as  low  into  the  dun- 
geon as  he  well  could. 

'Fight  bravely,  comrade,'  said  Coimt  Robert  of  Paris, 
'for  we  no  longer  battle  in  private,  this  respectable  per- 
son having  chosen  to  constitute  himself  judge  of  the 
field.' 

Hazardous  as  his  situation  was,  the  Varangian  looked 
up,  and  was  so  struck  with  the  wild  and  terrified  expres- 
sion which  the  creature  had  assumed,  and  the  strife  be- 
tween curiosity  and  terror  which  its  grotesque  features 
exhibited,  that  he  could  not  help  bursting  into  a  fit  of 
laughter. 

'Sylvan  is  among  those,'  said  Hereward,  'who  would 
rather  hold  the  candle  to  a  dance  so  formidable  than  join 
in  it  himself.' 

'Is  there,  then,'  said  Count  Robert,  'any  absolute 
necessity  that  thou  and  I  perform  this  dance  at  all?' 

'None  but  our  own  pleasure,'  answered  Hereward, 
'for  I  suspect  there  is  not  between  us  any  legitimate 
cause  of  quarrel  demanding  to  be  fought  out  in  such  a 
place,  and  before  such  a  spectator.  Thou  art,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  the  bold  Frank  who  was  yesternight  imprisoned 
in  this  place  with  a  tiger,  chained  within  no  distant 
spring  of  his  bed?' 

'I  am,'  answered  the  Count. 

'  And  where  is  the  animal  who  was  opposed  to  thee? ' 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'He  lies  yonder,'  answered  the  Count,  'never  again  to 
be  the  object  of  more  terror  than  the  deer  whom  he  may 
have  preyed  on  in  his  day.'  He  pointed  to  the  body  of 
the  tiger,  which  Hereward  examined  by  the  light  of  the 
dark  lantern  already  mentioned. 

'And  this,  then,  was  thy  handiwork?'  said  the  won- 
dering Anglo-Saxon. 

'Sooth  to  say  it  was,'  answered  the  Count,  with  indif- 
ference. 

'And  thou  hast  slain  my  comrade  of  this  strange 
watch?'  said  the  Varangian. 

'Mortally  wounded  him  at  the  least,'  said  Count 
Robert. 

'With  your  patience,  I  will  be  beholden  to  you  for  a 
moment's  truce,  while  I  examine  his  wound,'  said  Here- 
ward. 

'Assuredly,'  answered  the  Count;  'blighted  be  the 
arm  which  strikes  a  foul  blow  at  an  open  antagonist ! ' 

Without  demanding  further  security,  the  Varangian 
quitted  his  posture  of  defence  and  precaution,  and  set 
himself,  by  the  assistance  of  the  dark  lantern,  to  exam- 
ine the  wound  of  the  first  warder  who  appeared  on  the 
field,  who  seemed,  by  his  Roman  military  dress,  to  be  a 
soldier  of  the  bands  called  Immortals.  He  found  him  in 
the  death-agony,  but  still  able  to  speak. 

'  So,  Varangian,  thou  art  come  at  last,  and  it  is  to  thy 
sloth  or  treachery  that  I  am  to  impute  my  fate?  Nay, 
answer  me  not.  The  stranger  struck  me  over  the  collar- 
bone; had  we  lived  long  together,  or  met  often,  I  had 
done  the  like  by  thee,  to  wipe  out  the  memory  of  certain 
transactions  at  the  Golden  Gate.  I  know  the  use  of  the 
knife  too  well  to  doubt  the  effect  of  a  blow  aimed  over 

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COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  collar-bone  by  so  strong  a  hand  —  I  feel  it  coming. 
The  Immortal,  so  called,  becomes  now,  if  priests  say 
true,  an  immortal  indeed,  and  Sebastes  of  Mitylene's 
bow  is  broken  ere  his  quiver  is  half -emptied.' 

The  robber  Greek  sunk  back  in  Hereward's  arms,  and 
closed  his  life  with  a  groan,  which  was  the  last  sound  he 
uttered.  The  Varangian  laid  the  body  at  length  on  the 
dungeon  floor. 

'This  is  a  perplexed  matter,'  he  said;  *I  am  certainly 
not  called  upon  to  put  to  death  a  brave  man,  although 
my  national  enemy,  because  he  hath  killed  a  miscreant 
who  was  privately  meditating  my  own  murder.  Neither 
is  this  a  place  or  a  light  by  which  to  fight  as  becomes  the 
champions  of  two  nations.  Let  that  quarrel  be  still  for 
the  present.  How  say  you,  then,  noble  sir,  if  we  adjourn 
the  present  dispute  till  we  effect  your  dehverance  from  the 
dungeons  of  the  Blacquernal,  and  your  restoration  to  your 
own  friends  and  followers?  If  a  poor  Varangian  should 
be  of  service  to  you  in  this  matter,  would  you,  when  it 
was  settled,  refuse  to  meet  him  in  fair  fight,  with  your 
national  weapons  or  his  own? ' 

*If,'  said  Count  Robert,  'whether  friend  or  enemy, 
thou  wilt  extend  thy  assistance  to  my  wife,  who  is  also 
imprisoned  somewhere  in  this  inhospitable  palace,  be 
assured  that,  whatever  be  thy  rank,  whatever  be  thy 
country,  whatever  be  thy  condition,  Robert  of  Paris  will, 
at  thy  choice,  proffer  thee  his  right  hand  in  friendship, 
or  raise  it  against  thee  in  fair  and  manly  battle  —  a  strife 
not  of  hatred,  but  of  honour  and  esteem;  and  this  I 
vow  by  the  soul  of  Charlemagne,  my  ancestor,  and  by 
the  shrine  of  my  patroness.  Our  Lady  of  the  Broken 
Lances.' 

295 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Enough  said,'  replied  Hereward.  *I  am  as  much 
bound  to  the  assistance  of  your  lady  countess,  being  a 
poor  exile,  as  if  I  were  the  first  in  the  ranks  of  chivalry; 
for  if  anything  can  make  the  cause  of  worth  and  bravery 
yet  more  obligatory,  it  must  be  its  being  united  with  that 
of  a  helpless  and  suffering  female.' 

*I  ought,'  said  Count  Robert,  'to  be  here  silent,  with- 
out loading  thy  generosity  with  further  requests;  yet 
thou  art  a  man  whom,  if  fortune  has  not  smiled  at  thy 
birth,  by  ordaining  thee  to  be  born  within  the  ranks  of 
noblesse  and  knighthood,  yet  Providence  hath  done  thee 
more  justice  by  giving  thee  a  more  gallant  heart  than  is 
always  possessed,  I  fear,  by  those  who  are  inwoven  in 
the  gayest  wreath  of  chivalry.  There  Hngers  here  in  these 
dungeons  —  for  I  cannot  say  he  Uves  —  a  blind  old  man, 
to  whom  for  three  years  everything  beyond  his  prison 
has  been  a  universal  blot.  His  food  is  bread  and  water, 
his  intercourse  limited  to  the  conversation  of  a  sullen 
warder,  and  if  death  can  ever  come  as  a  deliverer,  it  must 
be  to  this  dark  old  man.  What  sayest  thou?  Shall  he, 
so  unutterably  miserable,  not  profit  by  perhaps  the  only 
opportunity  of  freedom  that  may  ever  occur  to  him? ' 

'  By  St.  Dunstan,'  answered  the  Varangian, '  thou  keep- 
est  over  truly  the  oath  thou  hast  taken  as  a  redresser  of 
wrongs.  Thine  own  case  is  well-nigh  desperate,  and  thou 
art  willing  to  make  it  utterly  so  by  uniting  with  it  that 
of  every  unhappy  person  whom  fate  throws  in  thy  way.' 

*The  more  of  human  misery  we  attempt  to  relieve,' 
said  Robert  of  Paris,  'the  more  we  shall  carry  with  us 
the  blessing  of  our  merciful  saints  and  Our  Lady  of  the 
Broken  Lances,  who  views  with  so  much  pain  every 
species  of  human  suffering  or  misfortune  save  that  which 

296 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

occurs  within  the  inclosure  of  the  lists.  But  come,  valiant 
Anglo-Saxon,  resolve  me  on  my  request  as  speedily  as 
thou  canst.  There  is  something  in  thy  face  of  candour 
as  well  as  sense,  and  it  is  with  no  small  confidence  that 
I  desire  to  see  us  set  forth  in  quest  of  my  beloved  count- 
ess, who,  when  her  deliverance  is  once  achieved,  will  be 
a  powerful  aid  to  us  in  recovering  that  of  others.' 

' So  be  it,  then,'  said  the  Varangian; '  we  will  proceed  in 
quest  of  the  Countess  Brenhilda;  and  if,  on  recovering 
her,  we  find  ourselves  strong  enough  to  procure  the  free- 
dom of  the  dark  old  man,  my  cowardice,  or  want  of  com- 
passion, shall  never  stop  the  attempt.' 


CHAPTER  XVII 

'T  is  strange  that,  in  the  dark  sulphureous  mine. 
Where  wild  ambition  piles  its  ripening  stores 
Of  slumbering  thunder,  Love  will  interpose 
His  tiny  torch,  and  cause  the  stern  explosion 
To  burst,  when  the  deviser's  least  aware. 

Anonymous. 

About  noon  of  the  same  day,  Agelastes  met  with 
Achilles  Tatius,  the  commander  of  the  Varangian  Guard, 
in  those  ruins  of  the  Egyptian  temple  in  which  we  form- 
erly mentioned  Hereward  having  had  an  interview  with 
the  philosopher.  They  met,  as  it  seemed,  in  a  very  differ- 
ent humour.  Tatius  was  gloomy,  melancholy,  and  down- 
cast; while  the  philosopher  maintained  the  calm  indiffer- 
ence which  procured  for  him,  and  in  some  sort  deserved, 
the  title  of  the  Elephant.  'Thou  blenchest,  Achilles 
Tatius,'  said  the  philosopher,  'now  that  thou  hast 
frankly  opposed  thyself  to  all  the  dangers  which  stood 
between  thee  and  greatness.  Thou  art  like  the  idle  boy 
who  turned  the  mill-stream  upon  the  machine,  and  that 
done,  instead  of  making  a  proper  use  of  it,  was  terrified 
at  seeing  it  in  motion.' 

'  Thou  dost  me  wrong,  Agelastes, '  answered  the  Acolyte 
—  'foul  wrong;  I  am  but  like  the  mariner,  who,  although 
determined  upon  his  voyage,  yet  cannot  forbear  a  sorrow- 
ing glance  at  the  shore,  before  he  parts  with  it,  it  may  be 
for  ever.' 

'It  may  have  been  right  to  think  of  this,  but  pardon 
me,  valiant  Tatius,  when  I  tell  you  the  account  should 
have  been  made  up  before;  and  the  grandson  of  Alguric 

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COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  Hun  ought  to  have  computed  chances  and  conse- 
quences ere  he  stretched  his  hand  to  his  master's  dia- 
dem.' 

'Hush !  for  Heaven's  sake,'  said  Tatius,  looking  round; 
'that,  thou  knowest,  is  a  secret  between  our  two  selves; 
for  if  Nicephorus,  the  Caesar,  should  learn  it,  where  were 
we  and  our  conspiracy? ' 

'Our  bodies  on  the  gibbet,  probably,'  answered  Age- 
lastes,  'and  our  souls  divorced  from  them,  and  in  the 
way  of  discovering  the  secrets  which  thou  hast  hitherto 
taken  upon  trust.' 

'Well,'  said  Achilles,  'and  should  not  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  possibility  of  this  fate  render  us  cautious?' 

'Cautious  men  if  you  will,'  answered  Agelastes,  'but 
not  timid  children.' 

'Stone  walls  can  hear,'  said  the  Follower,  lowering 
his  voice.  'Dionysius  the  tyrant,  I  have  read,  had  an  ear 
which  conveyed  to  him  the  secrets  spoken  within  his 
state-prison  at  Syracuse.' 

'And  that  ear  is  still  stationary  at  Syracuse,'  said  the 
philosopher.  'Tell  me,  my  most  simple  friend,  art  thou 
afraid  it  has  been  transported  hither  in  one  night,  as  the 
Latins  believe  of  Our  Lady's  House  of  Loretto? ' 

'No,'  answered  Achilles,  'but  in  an  affair  so  important 
too  much  caution  cannot  be  used.' 

'Well,  thou  most  cautious  of  candidates  for  empire, 
and  most  cold  of  military  leaders,  know  that  the  Caesar, 
deeming,  I  think,  that  there  is  no  chance  of  the  empire 
falling  to  any  one  but  himself,  hath  taken  in  his  head  to 
consider  his  succession  to  Alexius  as  a  matter  of  course 
whenever  the  election  takes  place.  In  consequence,  as 
matters  of  course  are  usually  matters  of  indifference,  he 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

has  left  all  thoughts  of  securing  his  interest  upon  this 
material  occasion  to  thee  and  to  me,  while  the  foolish 
voluptuary  hath  himself  run  mad  —  for  what,  think 
you?  Something  between  man  and  woman  —  female  in 
her  lineaments,  her  limbs,  and  a  part  at  least  of  her 
garments;  but,  so  help  me  St.  George,  most  masculine 
in  the  rest  of  her  attire,  in  her  propensities,  and  in  her 
exercises.* 

'The  amazonian  wife,  thou  meanest,'  said  Achilles, 
*of  that  iron-handed  Frank,  who  dashed  to  pieces  last 
night  the  golden  lion  of  Solomon  with  a  blow  of  his  fist? 
By  St.  George,  the  least  which  can  come  of  such  an  amour 
is  broken  bones.' 

'That,'  said  Agelastes,  'is  not  quite  so  improbable  as 
that  Dionysius's  ear  should  fly  hither  from  Syracuse  in 
a  single  night ;  but  he  is  presumptuous  in  respect  of  the 
influence  which  his  supposed  good  looks  have  gained  him 
among  the  Grecian  dames.' 

'He  was  too  presumptuous,  I  suppose,'  said  Achilles 
Tatius,  '  to  make  a  proper  allowance  for  his  situation  as 
Cassar  and  the  prospect  of  his  being  emperor.' 

'Meantime,'  said  Agelastes,  'I  have  promised  him  an 
interview  with  his  Bradamante,  who  may  perhaps  reward 
his  tender  epithets  of  zoe  kai  psyche  ^  by  divorcing  his 
amorous  soul  from  his  unrivalled  person.' 

'Meantime,'  said  the  Follower,  'thou  obtainest,  I 
conclude,  such  orders  and  warrants  as  the  Caesar  can 
give  for  the  furtherance  of  our  plot? ' 

'Assuredly,'  said  Agelastes,  'it  is  an  opportunity  not 

to  be  lost.  This  love  fit,  or  mad  fit,  has  blinded  him;  and 

without  exciting  too  much  attention  to  the  progress  of  the 

^  Life  and  soul. 

300 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

plot,  we  can  thus  in  safety  conduct  matters  our  own  way, 
without  causing  malevolent  remarks;  and  though  I  am 
conscious  that  in  doing  so  I  act  somewhat  at  variance 
with  my  age  and  character,  yet  the  end  being  to  convert 
a  worthy  follower  into  an  imperial  leader,  I  shame  me 
not  in  procuring  that  interview  with  the  lady  of  which 
the  Caesar,  as  they  term  him,  is  so  desirous.  What  prog- 
ress, meanwhile,  hast  thou  made  with  the  Varangians, 
who  are,  in  respect  of  execution,  the  very  arm  of  our 
design  ? ' 

'Scarce  so  good  as  I  could  wish,'  said  Achilles  Tatius; 
'yet  I  have  made  sure  of  some  two  or  three  score  of  those 
whom  I  found  most  accessible;  nor  have  I  any  doubt 
that,  when  the  Caesar  is  set  aside,  their  cry  will  be  for 
Achilles  Tatius.' 

'And  what  of  the  gallant  who  assisted  at  our  pre- 
lections,' said  Agelastes  —  'your  Edward,  as  Alexius 
termed  him?' 

'I  have  made  no  impression  upon  him,'  said  the  Fol- 
lower; 'and  I  am  sorry  for  it,  for  he  is  one  whom  his 
comrades  think  well  of,  and  would  gladly  follow.  Mean- 
time, I  have  placed  him  as  an  additional  sentinel  upon 
the  iron-witted  Count  of  Paris,  whom,  both  having  an 
inveterate  love  of  battle,  he  is  very  likely  to  put  to  death ; 
and  if  it  is  afterwards  challenged  by  the  crusaders  as  a 
cause  of  war,  it  is  only  delivering  up  the  Varangian, 
whose  personal  hatred  will  needs  be  represented  as  hav- 
ing occasioned  the  catastrophe.  All  this  being  prepared 
beforehand,  how  and  when  shall  we  deal  with  the 
Emperor? ' 

'For  that,'  said  Agelastes,  'we  must  consult  the  Caesar, 
who,  although  his  expected  happiness  of  to-day  is  not 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

more  certain  than  the  state  preferment  that  he  expects 
to-morrow,  and  although  his  ideas  are  much  more 
anxiously  fixed  upon  his  success  with  this  said  countess 
than  his  succession  to  the  empire,  will,  nevertheless,  ex- 
pect to  be  treated  as  the^  head  of  the  enterprise  for 
accelerating  the  latter.  But,  to  speak  my  opinion,  val- 
iant Tatius,  to-morrow  will  be  the  last  day  that  Alexius 
shall  hold  the  reins  of  empire.' 

'Let  me  know  for  certain,'  said  the  Follower,  *as  soon 
as  thou  canst,  that  I  may  warn  our  brethren,  who  are  to 
have  in  readiness  the  insurgent  citizens,  and  those  of  the 
Immortals  who  are  combined  with  us,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  court,  and  in  readiness  to  act;  and,  above  all, 
that  I  may  disperse  upon  distant  guards  such  Varangians 
as  I  cannot  trust.' 

*Rely  upon  me,'  said  Agelastes,  'for  the  most  accu- 
rate information  and  instructions,  so  soon  as  I  have  seen 
Nicephorus  Briennius.  One  word  permit  me  to  ask  — 
In  what  manner  is  the  wife  of  the  Caesar  to  be  disposed 
of?' 

'Somewhere,'  said  the  Follower,  'where  I  can  never 
be  compelled  to  hear  more  of  her  history.  Were  it  not 
for  that  nightly  pest  of  her  lectures,  I  could  be  good- 
natured  enough  to  take  care  of  her  destiny  myself,  and 
teach  her  the  difference  betwixt  a  real  emperor  and  this 
Briennius,  who  thinks  so  much  of  himself.'  So  saying, 
they  separated,  the  Follower  elated  in  look  and  manner 
considerably  above  what  he  had  been  when  they  met. 

Agelastes  looked  after  his  companion  with  a  scornful 
laugh.  'There,'  he  said,  'goes  a  fool,  whose  lack  of  sense 
prevents  his  eyes  from  being  dazzled  by  the  torch  which 
cannot  fail  to  consume  him.    A  half-bred,  half-acting, 

302 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

half-thinking,  half-daring  caitiff,  whose  poorest  thoughts 
—  and  those  which  deserve  that  name  must  be  poor 
indeed  —  are  not  the  produce  of  his  own  understanding. 
He  expects  to  circumvent  the  fiery,  haughty,  and  proud 
Nicephorus  Briennius!  If  he  does  so,  it  will  not  be  by  his 
own  policy,  and  still  less  by  his  valour.  Nor  shall  Anna 
Comnena,  the  soul  of  wit  and  genius,  be  chained  to 
such  an  unimaginative  log  as  yonder  half -barbarian.  No; 
she  shall  have  a  husband  of  pure  Grecian  extraction, 
and  well  stored  with  that  learning  which  was  studied 
when  Rome  was  great  and  Greece  illustrious.  Nor  will 
it  be  the  least  charm  of  the  imperial  throne,  that  it  is 
partaken  by  a  partner  whose  personal  studies  have  taught 
her  to  esteem  and  value  those  of  the  emperor.'  He  took 
a  step  or  two  with  conscious  elevation,  and  then,  as 
conscience-checked,  he  added,  in  a  suppressed  voice, 
'But  then,  if  Anna  were  destined  for  empress,  it  follows 
of  course  that  Alexius  must  die:  no  consent  could  be 
trusted  to.  And  what  then?  the  death  of  an  ordinary 
man  is  indifferent,  when  it  plants  on  the  throne  a  phi- 
losopher and  a  historian ;  and  at  what  time  were  the  pos- 
sessors of  the  empire  curious  to  inquire  when  or  by  whose 
agency  their  predecessors  died?  Diogenes  —  ho,  Di- 
ogenes!' The  slave  did  not  immediately  come,  so  that 
Agelastes,  wrapt  in  the  anticipation  of  his  greatness,  had 
time  to  add  a  few  more  words.  'Tush!  I  must  reckon 
with  Heaven,  say  the  priests,  for  many  things,  so  I  will 
throw  this  also  into  the  account.  The  death  of  the  Em- 
peror may  be  twenty  ways  achieved  without  my  having 
the  blame  of  it.  The  blood  which  we  have  shed  may  spot 
our  hand,  if  closely  regarded,  but  it  shall  scarce  stain  our 
forehead.' 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Diogenes  here  entered. 

'Has  the  Frank  lady  been  removed?'  said  the  philoso- 
pher. 

The  slave  signified  his  assent. 

'How  did  she  bear  her  removal?' 

*As  authorised  by  your  lordship,  indifferently  well. 
She  had  resented  her  separation  from  her  husband,  and 
her  being  detained  in  the  palace,  and  committed  some 
violence  upon  the  slaves  of  the  household,  several  of 
whom  were  said  to  be  slain,  although  we  perhaps  ought 
only  to  read  sorely  frightened.  She  recognised  me  at 
once,  and  when  I  told  her  that  I  came  to  offer  her  a  day's 
retirement  in  your  own  lodgings,  until  it  should  be  in 
your  power  to  achieve  the  liberation  of  her  husband,  she 
at  once  consented,  and  I  deposited  her  in  the  secret 
Cytherean  garden-house.' 

'Admirably  done,  my  faithful  Diogenes,'  said  the  phi- 
losopher; 'thou  art  Hke  the  genii  who  attended  on  the 
Eastern  talismans:  I  have  but  to  intimate  my  will  to 
thee,  and  it  is  accomplished.' 

Diogenes  bowed  deeply  and  withdrew. 

'Yet  remember,  slave,'  said  Agelastes,  speaking  to 
himself;  'there  is  danger  in  knowing  too  much;  and 
should  my  character  ever  become  questioned,  too  many 
of  my  secrets  are  in  the  power  of  Diogenes.' 

At  this  moment  a  blow  thrice  repeated,  and  struck 
upon  one  of  the  images  without,  which  had  been  so  framed 
as  to  return  a  tingling  sound,  and  in  so  far  deserved  the 
praise  of  being  vocal,  interrupted  his  soliloquy. 

'There  knocks,'  said  he,  'one  of  our  allies;  who  can 
it  be  that  comes  so  late? '  He  touched  the  figure  of  Isis 
with  his  staff,  and  the  Caesar  Nicephorus  Briennius  en- 

304 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

tered  in  the  full  Grecian  habit,  and  that  graceful  dress 
anxiously  arranged  to  the  best  advantage.  *  Let  me  hope, 
my  lord,'  said  Agelastes,  receiving  the  Cassar  with  an  ap- 
parently grave  and  reserved  face, '  your  Highness  comes 
to  tell  me  that  your  sentiments  are  changed  on  reflection, 
and  that  whatever  you  had  to  confer  about  with  this 
Prankish  lady  may  be  at  least  deferred  until  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  our  conspiracy  has  been  successfully  exe- 
cuted.' 

'Philosopher,'  answered  the  Caesar,  *no.  My  resolu- 
tion, once  taken,  is  not  the  sport  of  circumstances.  Be- 
lieve me,  that  I  have  not  finished  so  many  labours  with- 
out being  ready  to  undertake  others.  The  favour  of 
Venus  is  the  reward  of  the  labours  of  Mars,  nor  would 
I  think  it  worth  while  to  worship  the  god  armipotent 
with  the  toil  and  risk  attending  his  service,  unless  I 
had  previously  attained  some  decided  proofs  that  I  was 
wreathed  with  the  myrtle,  intimating  the  favour  of  his 
beautiful  mistress.' 

'  I  beg  pardon  for  my  boldness,'  said  Agelastes ;  *  but  has 
your  Imperial  Highness  reflected  that  you  were  wager- 
ing, with  the  wildest  rashness,  an  empire,  including  thine 
own  life,  mine,  and  all  who  are  joined  with  us  in  a 
hardy  scheme?  And  against  what  were  they  waged? 
Against  the  very  precarious  favour  of  a  woman,  who  is 
altogether  divided  betwixt  fiend  and  female,  and  in  either 
capacity  is  most  likely  to  be  fatal  to  our  present  scheme, 
either  by  her  good  wiH  or  by  the  offence  which  she  may 
take.  If  she  prove  such  as  you  wish,  she  will  desire  to 
keep  her  lover  by  her  side,  and  to  spare  him  the  danger 
of  engaging  in  a  perilous  conspiracy;  and  if  she  remains, 
as  the  world  believe  her,  constant  to  her  husband,  and 

48  305 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

to  the  sentiments  she  vowed  to  him  at  the  altar,  you  may 
guess  what  cause  of  offence  you  are  likely  to  give,  by 
urging  a  suit  which  she  has  already  received  so  very  ill.' 

'Pshaw,  old  man!  Thou  turnest  a  dotard,  and  in  the 
great  knowledge  thou  possessest  of  other  things,  hast  for- 
gotten the  knowledge  best  worth  knowing  —  that  of  the 
beautiful  part  of  the  creation.  Think  of  the  impression 
likely  to  be  made  by  a  gallant,  neither  ignoble  in  situa- 
tion nor  unacceptable  in  presence,  upon  a  lady  who  must 
fear  the  consequences  of  refusal.  Come,  Agelastes,  let 
me  have  no  more  of  thy  croaking,  auguring  bad  fortune 
like  the  raven  from  the  blasted  oak  on  the  left  hand;  but 
declaim,  as  well  thou  canst,  how  faint  heart  never  won 
fair  lady,  and  how  those  best  deserve  empire  who  can 
wreathe  the  myrtles  of  Venus  with  the  laurels  of  Mars. 
Come,  man,  undo  me  the  secret  entrance  which  combines 
these  magical  ruins  with  groves  that  are  fashioned 
rather  like  those  of  Cytheros  or  Naxos.' 

*It  must  be  as  you  will,'  said  the  philosopher,  with  a 
deep  and  somewhat  affected  sigh. 

'Here, Diogenes!'  called  aloud  the  Caesar;  'when  thou 
art  svunmoned,  mischief  is  not  far  distant.  Come,  undo 
the  secret  entrance.  Mischief,  my  trusty  negro,  is  not  so 
distant  but  she  will  answer  the  first  clatter  of  the  stones.' 

The  negro  looked  at  his  master,  who  returned  him  a 
glance  acquiescing  in  the  Caesar's  proposal.  Diogenes 
then  went  to  a  part  of  the  ruined  wall  which  was  covered 
by  some  climbing  shrub,  all  of  which  he  carefully  re- 
moved. This  showed  a  little  postern  door,  closed  irregu- 
larly, and  filled  up,  from  the  threshold  to  the  top,  with 
large  square  stones,  all  of  which  the  slave  took  out  and 
piled  aside,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  replacing  them.    'I 

306 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

leave  thee,'  said  Agelastes  to  the  negro,  *to  guard  this 
door,  and  let  no  one  enter,  except  he  has  the  sign,  upon 
the  peril  of  thy  life.  It  were  dangerous  it  should  be  left 
open  at  this  period  of  the  day.' 

The  obsequious  Diogenes  put  his  hand  to  his  sabre 
and  to  his  head,  as  if  to  signify  the  usual  promise  of 
fidelity  or  death,  by  which  those  of  his  condition  usually 
expressed  their  answer  to  their  master's  commands. 
Diogenes  then  Hghted  a  small  lantern,  and,  pulling  out 
a  key,  opened  an  inner  door  of  wood,  and  prepared  to 
step  forward. 

'Hold,  friend  Diogenes,'  said  the  Cssar;  'thou  want- 
est  not  thy  lantern  to  discern  an  honest  man,  whom,  if 
thou  didst  seek,  I  must  needs  say  thou  hast  come  to  the 
wrong  place  to  find  one.  Nail  thou  up  these  creeping 
shrubs  before  the  entrance  of  the  place,  and  abide  thou 
there,  as  already  directed,  till  our  return,  to  parry  the 
curiosity  of  any  who  may  be  attracted  by  the  sight  of  the 
private  passage.' 

The  black  slave  drew  back  as  he  gave  the  lamp  to  the 
Caesar,  and  Agelastes  followed  the  light  through  a  long, 
but  narrow,  arched  passage,  well  supplied  with  air  from 
space  to  space,  and  not  neglected  in  the  inside  to  the 
degree  which  its  exterior  would  have  implied. 

'I  will  not  enter  with  you  into  the  gardens,'  said  Age- 
lastes, '  or  to  the  bower  of  Cytherea,  where  I  am  too  old 
to  be  a  worshipper.  Thou  thyself,  I  think.  Imperial  Cae- 
sar, art  well  aware  of  the  road,  having  travelled  it  divers 
times,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  for  the  fairest  reasons.' 

'The  more  thanks,'  said  the  Caesar,  'are  due  to  mine 
excellent  friend  Agelastes,  who  forgets  his  own  age  to 
accommodate  the  youth  of  his  friends.' 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

We  must  now  return  to  the  dungeon  of  the  Blacquernal, 
where  circumstances  had  formed  at  least  a  temporary 
union  between  the  stout  Varangian  and  Count  Robert  of 
Paris,  who  had  a  stronger  resemblance  to  each  other  in 
their  dispositions  than  probably  either  of  them  would 
have  been  willing  to  admit.  The  virtues  of  the  Varangian 
were  all  of  that  natural  and  unrefined  kind  which  nature 
herself  dictates  to  a  gallant  man,  to  whom  a  total  want  of 
fear,  and  the  most  prompt  alacrity  to  meet  danger,  had 
been  attributes  of  a  Hfe-long  standing.  The  Count,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  all  that  bravery,  generosity,  and 
love  of  adventure  which  was  possessed  by  the  rude  sol- 
dier, with  the  virtues,  partly  real,  partly  fantastic,  which 
those  of  his  rank  and  country  acquired  from  the  spirit 
of  chivalry.  The  one  might  be  compared  to  the  diamond 
as  it  came  from  the  mine,  before  it  had  yet  received  the 
advantages  of  cutting  and  setting;  the  other  was  the 
ornamented  gem,  which,  cut  into  facets  and  richly  set, 
had  lost  perhaps  a  little  of  its  original  substance,  yet 
still,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  eye  of  an  inspector,  had 
something  more  showy  and  splendid  than  when  it  was, 
according  to  the  phrase  of  lapidaries,  en  brut.  In  the 
one  case,  the  value  was  more  artificial ;  in  the  other,  it  was 
the  more  natural  and  real  of  the  two.  Chance,  therefore, 
had  made  a  temporary  alliance  between  two  men  the 
foundation  of  whose  characters  bore  such  strong  resem- 
blance to  each  other  that  they  were  only  separated  by  a 

308 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

course  of  education,  which  had  left  rigid  prejudices  on 
both  sides,  and  which  prejudices  were  not  unlikely  to 
run  counter  to  each  other.  The  Varangian  commenced 
his  conversation  with  the  Count  in  a  tone  of  familiarity, 
approaching  nearer  to  rudeness  than  the  speaker  was 
aware  of,  and  much  of  which,  though  most  innocently 
intended  by  Hereward,  might  be  taken  amiss  by  his 
new  brother-in-arms.  The  most  offensive  part  of  his 
deportment,  however,  was  a  blxmt,  bold  disregard  to  the 
title  of  those  whom  he  addressed,  adhering  thereby  to 
the  manners  of  the  Saxons,  from  whom  he  drew  his 
descent,  and  which  was  likely  to  be  at  least  unpleasing 
to  the  Franks  as  well  as  Normans,  who  had  already  re- 
ceived and  become  very  tenacious  of  the  privileges  of 
the  feudal  system,  the  mummery  of  heraldry,  and  the 
warlike  claims  assumed  by  knights,  as  belonging  only  to 
their  own  order. 

Hereward  was  apt,  it  must  be  owned,  to  think  too  little 
of  these  distinctions;  while  he  had  at  least  a  sufficient 
tendency  to  think  enough  of  the  power  and  wealth  of  the 
Greek  empire  which  he  served,  of  the  dignity  inherent 
in  Alexius  Comnenus,  and  which  he  was  also  disposed  to 
grant  to  the  Grecian  officers  who,  under  the  Emperor, 
commanded  his  own  corps,  and  particularly  to  Achilles 
Tatius.  This  man  Hereward  knew  to  be  a  coward,  and 
half-suspected  to  be  a  villain.  Still,  however,  the  Fol- 
lower was  always  the  direct  channel  through  which  the 
imperial  graces  were  conferred  on  the  Varangians  in 
general,  as  well  as  upon  Hereward  himself;  and  he  had 
always  the  policy  to  represent  such  favours  as  being 
more  or  less  indirectly  the  consequence  of  his  own  inter- 
cession.   He  was  supposed  vigorously  to  espouse  the 

309 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

quarrel  of  the  Varangians,  in  all  the  disputes  between 
them  and  the  other  corps;  he  was  hberal  and  open- 
handed;  gave  every  soldier  his  due;  and,  bating  the 
trifling  circumstance  of  valour,  which  was  not  particu- 
larly his  forte,  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  these 
strangers  to  have  demanded  a  leader  more  to  their  wishes. 
Besides  this,  our  friend  Hereward  was  admitted  by  him 
into  his  society,  attended  him,  as  we  have  seen,  upon 
secret  expeditions,  and  shared,  therefore,  deeply  in  what 
may  be  termed  by  an  expressive,  though  vulgar,  phrase 
the  sneaking  kindness  entertained  for  this  new  Achilles 
by  the  greater  part  of  his  myrmidons. 

Their  attachment  might  be  explained,  perhaps,  as  a 
liking  to  their  commander  as  strong  as  could  well  exist 
with  a  marvellous  lack  of  honour  and  esteem.  The 
scheme,  therefore,  formed  by  Hereward  to  effect  the 
deliverance  of  the  Count  of  Paris  comprehended  as  much 
faith  to  the  Emperor  and  his  representative,  the  Acolyte 
or  Follower,  as  was  consistent  with  rendering  justice  to 
the  injured  Frank. 

In  furtherance  of  this  plan,  he  conducted  Count 
Robert  from  the  subterranean  vaults  of  the  Blacquernal, 
of  the  intricacies  of  which  he  was  master,  having  been 
repeatedly  of  late  stationed  sentinel  there,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  acquiring  that  knowledge  of  which  Tatius  prom- 
ised himself  the  advantage  in  the  ensuing  conspiracy. 
When  they  were  in  the  open  air,  and  at  some  distance 
from  the  gloomy  towers  of  the  palace,  he  bluntly  asked 
the  Count  of  Paris  whether  he  knew  Agelastes  the 
Philosopher.  The  other  answered  in  the  negative. 

'Look  you  now,  sir  knight,  you  hurt  yourself  in  at- 
tempting to  impose  upon  me,'  said  Hereward.    'You 

310 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

must  know  him;  for  I  saw  you  dined  with  him  yester- 
day.' 

*0!  with  that  learned  old  man?'  said  the  Count.  'I 
know  nothing  of  him  worth  owning  or  disguising  to  thee 
or  any  one.  A  wily  person  he  is,  half  herald  and  half 
minstrel.' 

'Half  procurer  and  whole  knave,'  subjoined  the  Varan- 
gian. 'With  the  mask  of  apparent  good-humour,  he 
conceals  his  pandering  to  the  vices  of  others;  with  the 
specious  jargon  of  philosophy,  he  has  argued  himself  out 
of  religious  belief  and  moral  principle;  and,  with  the 
appearance  of  the  most  devoted  loyalty,  he  will,  if  he  is 
not  checked  in  time,  either  argue  his  too  confiding  mas- 
ter out  of  life  and  empire,  or,  if  he  fails  in  this,  reason  his 
simple  associates  into  death  and  misery.' 

'And  do  you  know  all  this,'  said  Count  Robert,  'and 
permit  this  man  to  go  unimpeached? ' 

'O,  content  you,  sir,'  replied  the  Varangian;  'I  cannot 
yet  form  any  plot  which  Agelastes  may  not  countermine; 
but  the  time  will  come,  nay,  it  is  already  approaching, 
when  the  Emperor's  attention  shall  be  irresistibly  turned 
to  the  conduct  of  this  man,  and  then  let  the  philosopher 
sit  fast,  or  by  St.  Dunstan  the  barbarian  overthrows 
him !  I  would  only  fain,  methinks,  save  from  his  clutches 
a  foolish  friend,  who  has  listened  to  his  delusions.' 

'But  what  have  I  to  do,'  said  the  Count,  'with  this 
man  or  with  his  plots? ' 

'Much,'  said  Hereward,  'although  you  know  it  not. 
The  main  supporter  of  this  plot  is  no  other  than  the 
Caesar,  who  ought  to  be  the  most  faithful  of  men;  but 
ever  since  Alexius  has  named  a  Scbastocrator,  an  officer 
that  is  higher  in  rank,  and  nearer  to  the  throne^  than  the 

3" 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Caesar  himself,  so  long  has  Nicephorus  Briennius  been 
displeased  and  dissatisfied,  though  for  what  length  of 
time  he  has  joined  the  schemes  of  the  astucious  Agelas- 
tes  it  is  more  difficult  to  say.  This  I  know,  that  for  many 
months  he  has  fed  liberally,  as  his  riches  enable  him 
to  do,  the  vices  and  prodigality  of  the  Caesar.  He  has 
encouraged  him  to  show  disrespect  to  his  wife,  although 
the  Emperor's  daughter;  has  put  ill-will  between  him 
and  the  royal  family.  And  if  Briennius  bears  no  longer 
the  fame  of  a  rational  man  and  the  renown  of  a  good 
leader,  he  is  deprived  of  both  by  following  the  advice 
of  this  artful  sycophant.' 

'And  what  is  all  this  to  me?'  said  the  Frank.  *Age- 
lastes  may  be  a  true  man  or  a  time-serving  slave;  his 
master,  Alexius  Comnenus,  is  not  so  much  allied  to  me 
or  mine  that  I  should  meddle  in  the  intrigues  of  his 
court? ' 

'You  may  be  mistaken  in  that,'  said  the  blunt  Varan- 
gian; 'if  these  intrigues  involve  the  happiness  and 
virtue  — ' 

'Death  of  a  thousand  martyrs!'  said  the  Frank,  'do 
paltry  intrigues  and  quarrels  of  slaves  involve  a  single 
thought  of  suspicion  of  the  noble  Countess  of  Paris? 
The  oaths  of  thy  whole  generation  were  ineffectual  to 
prove  but  that  one  of  her  hairs  had  changed  its  colour  to 
silver.' 

*WeU  imagined,  gallant  knight,'  said  the  Anglo- 
Saxon;  'thou  art  a  husband  fitted  for  the  atmosphere 
of  Constantinople,  which  calls  for  little  vigilance  and 
a  strong  belief.  Thou  wilt  find  many  followers  and 
fellows  in  this  court  of  ours.' 

'Hark  thee,  friend,'  replied  the  Frank,  'let  us  have  no 
312 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

more  words,  nor  walk  farther  together  than  just  to  the 
most  solitary  nook  of  this  bewildered  city,  and  let  us 
there  set  to  that  work  which  we  left  even  now  unfinished.' 

'If  thou  wert  a  duke,  sir  count,'  replied  the  Varan- 
gian, *thou  couldst  not  invite  to  a  combat  one  who  is 
more  ready  for  it.  Yet  consider  the  odds  on  which  we 
fight.  If  I  fall,  my  moan  is  soon  made ;  but  will  my  death 
set  thy  wife  at  liberty  if  she  is  under  restraint,  or  restore 
her  honour  if  it  is  tarnished?  Will  it  do  anything  more 
than  remove  from  the  world  the  only  person  who  is  will- 
ing to  give  thee  aid,  at  his  own  risk  and  danger,  and  who 
hopes  to  unite  thee  to  thy  wife,  and  replace  thee  at  the 
head  of  thy  forces?' 

*I  was  wrong,'  said  the  Count  of  Paris  —  'I  was  en- 
tirely wrong;  but  beware,  my  good  friend,  how  thou 
couplest  the  name  of  Brenhilda  of  Aspramonte  with  the 
word  of  dishonour,  and  tell  me,  instead  of  this  irritating 
discourse,  whither  go  we  now?' 

*  To  the  Cytherean  gardens  of  Agelastes,  from  which 
we  are  not  far  distant,'  said  the  Anglo-Saxon;  *yet  he 
hath  a  nearer  way  to  it  than  that  by  which  we  now 
travel,  else  I  should  be  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  short 
space  in  which  he  could  exchange  the  charms  of  his  gar- 
den for  the  gloomy  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Isis  and  the 
Imperial  Palace  of  the  Blacquernal.' 

'And  wherefore,  and  how  long,'  said  Count  Robert, 
'dost  thou  conclude  that  my  countess  is  detained  in 
these  gardens?' 

'Ever  since  yesterday,'  replied  Hereward.  'When 
both  I  and  several  of  my  companions,  at  my  request, 
kept  close  watch  upon  the  Caesar  and  your  lady,  we  did 
plainly  perceive  passages  of  fiery  admiration  on  his  part, 

313 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

and  anger,  as  it  seemed,  on  hers,  which  Agelastes,  being 
Nicephorus's  friend,  was  likely,  as  usual,  to  bring  to  an 
end  by  a  separation  of  you  both  from  the  army  of  the  cru- 
saders, that  your  wife,  like  many  a  matron  before,  might 
have  the  pleasure  of  taking  up  her  residence  in  the  gar- 
dens of  that  worthy  sage;  while  you,  my  lord,  might  take 
up  your  own  permanently  in  the  castle  of  Blacquernal.' 

'Villain!  why  didst  thou  not  apprise  me  of  this  yester- 
day?' 

*A  Hkely  thing,'  said  Hereward,  'that  I  should  feel 
myself  at  liberty  to  leave  the  ranks  and  make  such  a 
communication  to  a  man  whom,  far  from  a  friend,  I  then 
considered  in  the  light  of  a  personal  enemy!  Methinks 
that,  instead  of  such  language  as  this,  you  should  be 
thankful  that  so  many  chance  circumstances  have  at 
length  brought  me  to  befriend  and  assist  you.' 

Count  Robert  felt  the  truth  of  what  was  said,  though 
at  the  same  time  his  fiery  temper  longed  to  avenge  itself, 
according  to  its  wont,  upon  the  party  which  was  nearest 
at  hand. 

But  now  they  arrived  at  what  the  citizens  of  Constan- 
tinople called  the  Philosopher's  Gardens.  Here  Here- 
ward hoped  to  obtain  entrance,  for  he  had  gained  a 
knowledge  of  some  part,  at  least,  of  the  private  signals 
of  Achilles  and  Agelastes,  since  he  had  been  introduced 
to  the  last  at  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Isis.  They  had 
not  indeed  admitted  him  to  their  entire  secret;  yet,  con- 
fident in  his  connexion  with  the  Follower,  they  had  no 
hesitation  in  communicating  to  him  snatches  of  knowl- 
edge such  as,  committed  to  a  man  of  shrewd  natural 
sense  like  the  Anglo-Saxon,  could  scarce  fail,  in  time  and 
by  degrees,  to  make  him  master  of  the  whole.    Count 

314 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Robert  and  his  companion  stood  before  an  arched  door, 
the  only  opening  in  a  high  wall,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon 
was  about  to  knock,  when,  as  if  the  idea  had  suddenly 
struck  him  — 

'What  if  the  wretch  Diogenes  opens  the  gate?  We 
must  kill  him  ere  he  can  fly  back  and  betray  us.  Well,  it 
is  a  matter  of  necessity,  and  the  villain  has  deserved 
his  death  by  a  hundred  horrid  crimes.' 

'Kill  him  then,  thyself,'  retorted  Count  Robert;  'he  is 
nearer  thy  degree,  and  assuredly  I  will  not  defile  the 
name  of  Charlemagne  with  the  blood  of  a  black  slave.' 

'Nay,  God-a-mercy!'  answered  the  Anglo-Saxon,  'but 
you  must  bestir  yourself  in  the  action  supposing  there 
come  rescue,  and  that  I  be  overborne  by  odds.' 

'Such  odds,'  said  the  knight,  'will  render  the  action 
more  like  a  melee,  or  general  battle;  and  assure  yourself 
I  will  not  be  slack  when  I  may,  with  my  honour,  be 
active.' 

*I  doubt  it  not,'  said  the  Varangian;  'but  the  distinc- 
tion seems  a  strange  one,  that,  before  permitting  a  man 
to  defend  himself  or  annoy  his  enemy,  requires  him  to 
demand  the  pedigree  of  his  ancestor.' 
•  'Fear  you  not,  sir,'  said  Count  Robert.  'The  strict 
rule  of  chivalry  indeed  bears  what  I  tell  thee,  but  when 
the  question  is.  Fight  or  not?  there  is  great  allowance 
to  be  made  for  a  decision  in  the  affirmative.' 

'Let  me  give,  then,  the  exorciser's  rap,'  replied  Here- 
ward,  'and  see  what  fiend  will  appear.' 

So  saying,  he  knocked  in  a  particular  manner,  and  the 
door  opened  inwards;  a  dwarfish  negress  stood  in  the 
gap,  her  white  hair  contrasted  singularly  with  her  dark 
complexion,  and  with  the  broad,  laughing  look  peculiar 

315 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

to  these  slaves.  She  had  something  in  her  physiognomy 
which,  severely  construed,  might  argue  malice  and  a 
delight  in  human  misery, 

'  Is  Agelastes  — '  said  the  Varangian ;  but  he  had  not 
completed  the  sentence  when  she  answered  him  by  point- 
ing down  a  shadowed  walk. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  and  Frank  turned  in  that  direction, 
when  the  hag  rather  muttered  than  said  distinctly, 
'You  are  one  of  the  initiated,  Varangian;  take  heed 
whom  you  take  with  you,  when  you  may  hardly,  perad- 
venture,  be  welcomed  even  going  alone.' 

Hereward  made  a  sign  that  he  understood  her,  and 
they  were  instantly  out  of  her  sight.  The  path  winded 
beautifully  through  the  shades  of  an  Eastern  garden, 
where  clumps  of  flowers  and  labyrinths  of  flowering 
shrubs,  and  the  tall  boughs  of  the  forest  trees,  rendered 
even  the  breath  of  noon  cool  and  acceptable. 

'Here  we  must  use  our  utmost  caution,'  said  Here- 
ward, speaking  in  a  low  tone  of  voice ; '  for  here  it  is  most 
likely  the  deer  that  we  seek  has  found  its  refuge.  Better 
allow  me  to  pass  before,  since  you  are  too  deeply  agitated 
to  possess  the  coolness  necessary  for  a  scout.  Keep  con- 
cealed beneath  yon  oak,  and  let  no  vain  scruples  of 
honour  deter  you  from  creeping  beneath  the  underwood, 
or  beneath  the  earth  itself,  if  you  should  hear  a  footfall. 
If  the  lovers  have  agreed,  Agelastes,  it  is  probable, 
walks  his  round,  to  prevent  intrusion.' 

'Death  and  furies,  it  cannot  be!'  exclaimed  the  fiery 
Frank.  'Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances,  take  thy  votary's 
life  ere  thou  torment  him  with  this  agony.' 

He  saw,  however,  the  necessity  of  keeping  a  strong 
force  upon  himself,  and  permitted,  without  further  re- 

316 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

monstrance,  the  Varangian  to  pursue  his  way,  looking, 
however,  earnestly  after  him.  By  advancing  forward  a 
little,  he  could  observe  Hereward  draw  near  to  a  pavil- 
ion which  arose  at  no  great  distance  from  the  place  where 
they  had  parted.  Here  he  observed  him  apply  first  his 
eye  and  then  his  ear  to  one  of  the  casements,  which  were 
in  a  great  measure  grown  over  and  excluded  from  the 
light  by  various  flowering  shrubs.  He  almost  thought  he 
saw  a  grave  interest  take  place  in  the  countenance  of 
the  Varangian,  and  he  longed  to  have  his  share  of  the 
information  which  he  had  doubtless  obtained. 

He  crept,  therefore,  with  noiseless  steps,  through  the 
same  labyrinth  of  foliage  which  had  covered  the  ap- 
proaches of  Hereward;  and  so  silent  were  his  move- 
ments, that  he  touched  the  Anglo-Saxon,  in  order  to 
make  him  aware  of  his  presence,  before  he  observed  his 
approach. 

Hereward,  not  aware  at  first  by  whom  he  was  ap- 
proached, turned  on  the  intruder  with  a  coxmtenance 
like  a  burning  coal.  Seeing,  however,  that  it  was  the 
Frank,  he  shrugged  his  shoulders,  as  if  pitying  the  impa- 
tience which  could  not  be  kept  under  prudent  restraint, 
and,  drawing  himself  back,  allowed  the  Count  the  priv- 
ilege of  a  peeping-place  through  plinths  of  the  casement, 
which  could  not  be  decerned  by  the  sharpest  eye  from  the 
inner  side.  The  sombre  character  of  the  light  which  pene- 
trated into  this  abode  of  pleasure  was  suited  to  that 
species  of  thought  to  which  a  temple  of  Cytherea  was 
supposed  to  be  dedicated.  Portraits  and  groups  of  statu- 
ary were  also  to  be  seen,  in  the  taste  of  those  which  they 
had  beheld  at  the  kiosk  of  the  waterfall,  yet  something 
more  free  in  the  ideas  which  they  conveyed  than  were 

317 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

to  be  found  at  their  first  resting-place.  Shortly  after,  the 
door  of  the  pavilion  opened,  and  the  Countess  entered, 
followed  by  her  attendant  Agatha.  The  lady  threw  her- 
self on  a  couch  as  she  came  in,  while  her  attendant,  who 
was  a  young  and  very  handsome  woman,  kept  herself 
modestly  in  the  background,  so  much  so  as  hardly  to  be 
distinguished. 

'What  dost  thou  think,'  said  the  Countess,  'of  so  sus- 
picious a  friend  as  Agelastes,  so  gallant  an  enemy  as  the 
Ccesar,  as  he  is  called?' 

'What  should  I  think,'  returned  the  damsel,  'except 
that  what  the  old  man  calls  friendship  is  hatred,  and 
what  the  Caesar  terms  a  patriotic  love  for  his  country, 
which  will  not  permit  him  to  set  its  enemies  at  Uberty, 
is  in  fact  too  strong  an  affection  for  his  fair  captive?' 

'For  such  an  affection,'  said  the  Countess,  'he  shall 
have  the  same  requital  as  if  it  were  indeed  the  hostility 
of  which  he  would  give  it  the  colour.  IMy  true  and  noble 
lord,  hadst  thou  an  idea  of  the  calamities  to  which  they 
have  subjected  me,  how  soon  wouldst  thou  break  through 
every  restraint  to  hasten  to  my  relief ! ' 

'Art  thou  a  man,'  said  Count  Robert  to  his  compan- 
ion, 'and  canst  thou  advise  me  to  remain  still  and  hear 
this?' 

'I  am  one  man,'  said  the  Anglo-Saxon,  'you,  sir,  are 
another;  but  all  our  arithmetic  will  not  make  us  more 
than  two ;  and  in  this  place  it  is  probable  that  a  whistle 
from  the  Ceesar,  or  a  scream  from  Agelastes,  would 
bring  a  thousand  to  match  us,  if  we  were  as  bold  as  Bevis 
of  Hampton.  Stand  still  and  keep  quiet.  I  counsel  this 
less  as  respecting  my  own  life,  which,  by  embarking 
upon  a  wildgoose  chase  with  so  strange  a  partner,  I  have 

318 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Bhown  I  put  at  little  value,  than  for  thy  safety,  and  that 
of  the  lady  thy  countess,  who  shows  herself  as  virtuous 
as  beautiful.' 

*I  was  imposed  on  at  first,'  said  the  Lady  Brenhilda 
to  her  attendant.  'Affectation  of  severe  morals,  of  deep 
learning,  and  of  rigid  rectitude,  assumed  by  this  wicked 
old  man,  made  me  believe  in  part  the  character  which  he 
pretended ;  but  the  gloss  is  rubbed  off  since  he  let  me  see 
into  his  alliance  with  the  unworthy  Caesar,  and  the  ugly 
picture  remains  in  its  native  loathsomeness.  Neverthe- 
less, if  I  can,  by  address  or  subtlety,  deceive  this  arch- 
deceiver  —  as  he  has  taken  from  me,  in  a  great  measure, 
every  other  kind  of  assistance  —  I  will  not  refuse  that  of 
craft,  which  he  may  find  perhaps  equal  to  his  own?' 

*  Hear  you  that? '  said  the  Varangian  to  the  Count  of 
Paris,  '  Do  not  let  your  impatience  mar  the  web  of  your 
lady's  prudence.  I  will  weigh  a  woman's  wit  against  a 
man's  valour  where  there  is  aught  to  do.  Let  us  not 
come  in  with  our  assistance  until  time  shall  show  us  that 
it  is  necessary  for  her  safety  and  our  success.' 

'Amen,'  said  the  Count  of  Paris;  'but  hope  not,  sir 
Saxon,  that  thy  prudence  shall  persuade  me  to  leave  this 
garden  without  taking  full  vengeance  on  that  unworthy 
Caesar,  and  the  pretended  philosopher,  if  indeed  he 
turns  out  to  have  assumed  a  character  — '  The  Count 
was  here  beginning  to  raise  his  voice,  when  the  Saxon, 
without  ceremony,  placed  his  hand  on  his  mouth.  '  Thou 
takest  a  liberty,'  said  Count  Robert,  lowering,  however, 
his  tones. 

*Ay,  truly,'  said  Hereward;  'when  the  house  is  on  fire, 
I  do  not  stop  to  ask  whether  the  water  which  I  pour  on  it 
be  perfumed  or  no.' 

319 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

This  recalled  the  Frank  to  a  sense  of  his  situation;  and 
if  not  contented  with  the  Saxon's  mode  of  making  an 
apology,  he  was  at  least  silenced.  A  distant  noise  was 
now  heard;  the  Countess  Hstened,  and  changed  colour. 
'Agatha/  she  said,  'we  are  like  champions  in  the  lists, 
and  here  comes  the  adversary.  Let  us  retreat  into  this 
side  apartment,  and  so  for  a  while  put  off  an  encounter 
thus  alarming.'  So  saying,  the  two  females  withdrew 
into  a  sort  of  ante-room,  which  opened  from  the  prin- 
cipal apartment  behind  the  seat  which  Brenhilda  had 
occupied. 

They  had  scarcely  disappeared,  when,  as  the  stage 
direction  has  it,  enter  from  the  other  side  the  Caesar  and 
Agelastes.  They  had  perhaps  heard  the  last  words  of 
Brenhilda,  for  the  Caesar  repeated  in  a  low  tone  — 

'Militat  omnis  amans,  habet  et  sua  castra  Cupido. 

What,  has  our  fair  opponent  withdrawn  her  forces?  No 
matter,  it  shows  she  thinks  of  the  warfare,  though  the 
enemy  be  not  in  sight.  Well,  thou  shalt  not  have  to 
upbraid  me  this  time,  Agelastes,  with  precipitating  my 
amours,  and  depriving  myself  of  the  pleasure  of  pur- 
suit. By  Heavens,  I  will  be  as  regular  in  my  progress  as 
if  in  reaUty  I  bore  on  my  shoulders  the  whole  load  of 
years  which  make  the  difference  between  us;  for  I 
shrewdly  suspect  that  with  thee,  old  man,  it  is  that  en- 
vious churl  Time  that  hath  plucked  the  wings  of  Cupid.* 

'Say  not  so,  mighty  Cassar,'  said  the  old  man;  'it  is 
the  hand  of  Prudence,  which,  depriving  Cupid's  wing  of 
some  wild  feathers,  leaves  him  still  enough  to  fly  with 
an  equal  and  steady  flight.' 

'Thy  flight,  however,  was  less  measured,  Agelastes, 

320 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

when  thou  didst  collect  that  armoury  —  that  magazine 
of  Cupid's  panoply,  out  of  which  thy  kindness  permitted 
me  but  now  to  arm  myself,  or  rather  to  repair  my  accou- 
trements.' 

So  saying,  he  glanced  his  eye  over  his  own  person, 
blazing  with  gems,  and  adorned  with  a  chain  of  gold, 
bracelets,  rings,  and  other  ornaments,  which,  with  a  new 
and  splendid  habit,  assumed  since  his  arrival  at  these 
Cytherean  gardens,  tended  to  set  off  his  very  handsome 
figure. 

'I  am  glad,'  said  Agelastes,  'if  you  have  found  among 
toys,  which  I  now  never  wear,  and  seldom  made  use  of 
even  when  life  was  young  with  me,  anything  which  may 
set  off  your  natural  advantages.  Remember  only  this 
slight  condition,  that  such  of  these  trifles  as  have  made 
part  of  your  wearing-apparel  on  this  distinguished  day 
cannot  return  to  a  meaner  owner,  but  must  of  necessity 
remain  the  property  of  that  greatness  of  which  they  had 
once  formed  the  ornament.' 

*I  cannot  consent  to  this,  my  worthy  friend,'  said  the 
Caesar;  'I  know  thou  valuest  these  jewels  only  in  so  far 
as  a  philosopher  may  value  them  —  that  is,  for  nothing 
save  the  remembrances  which  attach  to  them.  This 
large  seal-ring,  for  instance,  was,  I  have  heard  you  say, 
the  property  of  Socrates;  if  so,  you  cannot  view  it  save 
with  devout  thankfulness  that  your  own  philosophy  has 
never  been  tried  with  the  exercise  of  a  Xantippe.  These 
clasps  released,  in  older  times,  the  lovely  bosom  of 
Phryne;  and  they  now  belong  to  one  who  could  do 
better  homage  to  the  beauties  they  concealed  or  dis- 
covered than  could  the  cynic  Diogenes.  These  buckles, 
too—' 

43  321 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'I  will  spare  thy  ingenuity,  good  youth,'  said  Age- 
lastes,  somewhat  nettled  —  '  or  rather,  noble  Caesar. 
Keep  thy  wit;  thou  wilt  have  ample  occasion  for  it.' 

'Fear  not  me,'  said  the  Caesar.  'Let  us  proceed,  since 
you  will,  to  exercise  the  gifts  which  we  possess,  such  as 
they  are,  either  natural  or  bequeathed  to  us  by  our  dear 
and  respected  friend.  Hah!'  he  said,  the  door  opening 
suddenly  and  the  Countess  almost  meeting  him,  'our 
wishes  are  here  anticipated.' 

He  bowed  accordingly  with  the  deepest  deference  to 
the  Lady  Brenhilda,  who,  having  made  some  altera- 
tions to  enhance  the  splendour  of  her  attire,  now  moved 
forward  from  the  withdrawing-room  into  which  she  had 
retreated. 

'Hail,  noble  lady,'  said  the  Caesar,  'whom  I  have 
visited  with  the  intention  of  apologising  for  detaining 
you,  in  some  degree  against  your  will,  in  those  strange 
regions  in  which  you  unexpectedly  find  yourself.' 

'Not  in  some  degree,'  answered  the  lady,  'but  entirely 
contrary  to  my  inchnations,  which  are,  to  be  with  my 
husband  the  Count  of  Paris,  and  the  followers  who  have 
taken  the  cross  under  his  banner.' 

'Such,  doubtless,  were  your  thoughts  when  you  left 
the  land  of  the  West,'  said  Agelastes;  'but,  fair  countess, 
have  they  experienced  no  change?  You  have  left  a  shore 
streaming  with  human  blood  when  the  slightest  provo- 
cation occurred,  and  thou  hast  come  to  one  whose  princi- 
pal maxim  is  to  increase  the  sum  of  human  happiness  by 
every  mode  which  can  be  invented.  In  the  West  yonder, 
he  or  she  is  respected  most  who  can  best  exercise  their 
tyrannical  strength  in  making  others  miserable,  while 
in  these  more  placid  realms  we  reserve  our  garlands  for 

322 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  ingenious  youth  or  lovely  lady  who  can  best  make 
happy  the  person  whose  affection  is  fixed  upon  her.' 

'But,  reverend  philosopher,'  said  the  Countess,  'who 
labourest  so  artificially  in  recommending  the  yoke  of 
pleasure,  know  that  you  contradict  every  notion  which 
I  have  been  taught  from  my  infancy.  In  the  land  where 
my  nurture  lay,  so  far  are  we  from  acknowledging  your 
doctrines,  that  we  match  not  except,  like  the  lion  and  the 
lioness,  when  the  male  has  compelled  the  female  to 
acknowledge  his  superior  worth  and  valour.  Such  is  our 
rule,  that  a  damsel,  even  of  mean  degree,  would  think 
herself  heinously  undermatched,  if  wedded  to  a  gaUant 
whose  fame  in  arms  was  yet  unknown.' 

'But,  noble  lady,'  said  the  Caesar,  'a  dying  man  may 
then  find  room  for  some  faint  hope.  Were  there  but  a 
chance  that  distinction  in  arms  could  gain  those  affec- 
tions which  have  been  stolen,  rather  than  fairly  con- 
ferred, how  many  are  there  who  would  willingly  enter 
into  the  competition  where  the  prize  is  so  fair!  What 
is  the  enterprise  too  bold  to  be  undertaken  on  such 
a  condition?  And  where  is  the  individual  whose  heart 
would  not  feel  that,  in  baring  his  sword  for  the  prize, 
he  made  vow  never  to  return  it  to  the  scabbard  with- 
out the  proud  boast,  "What  I  have  not  yet  won,  I 
have  deserved"?' 

'You  see,  lady,'  said  Agelastes,  who,  apprehending 
that  the  last  speech  of  the  Caisar  had  made  some  impres- 
sion, hastened  to  follow  it  up  with  a  suitable  observa- 
tion —  '  you  see  that  the  fire  of  chivalry  burns  as  gal- 
lantly in  the  bosom  of  the  Grecians  as  in  that  of  the 
Western  nations.' 

'Yes,'  answered  Brenhilda,  'and  I  have  heard  of  the 

323 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

celebrated  siege  of  Troy,  on  which  occasion  a  dastardly 
coward  carried  off  the  wife  of  a  brave  man,  shunned  every 
proffer  of  encounter  with  the  husband  whom  he  had 
wronged,  and  finally  caused  the  death  of  his  numerous 
brothers,  the  destruction  of  his  native  city,  with  all  the 
w^ealth  which  it  contained,  and  died  himself  the  death 
of  a  pitiful  poltroon,  lamented  only  by  his  worthless 
leman,  to  show  how  well  the  rules  of  chivalry  were  under- 
stood by  your  predecessors.' 

'Lady,  you  mistake,'  said  the  Caesar;  'the  offences  of 
Paris  were  those  of  a  dissolute  Asiatic;  the  courage 
which  avenged  them  was  that  of  the  Greek  Empire.' 

'You  are  learned,  sir,'  said  the  lady;  'but  think  not 
that  I  will  trust  your  words  until  you  produce  before  me 
a  Grecian  knight  gallant  enough  to  look  upon  the  armed 
crest  of  my  husband  without  quaking.' 

'  That,  methinks,  were  not  extremely  difficult,'  returned 
the  Caesar:  'if  they  have  not  flattered  me,  I  have  myself 
been  thought  equal  in  battle  to  more  dangerous  men  than 
him  who  has  been  strangely  mated  with  the  Lady  Bren- 
hilda.' 

'That  is  soon  tried,'  answered  the  Countess.  'You 
will  hardly,  I  think,  deny  that  my  husband,  separated 
from  me  by  some  unworthy  trick,  is  still  at  thy  com- 
mand, and  could  be  produced  at  thy  pleasure.  I  will  ask 
no  armour  for  him  save  what  he  wears,  no  weapon  but 
his  good  sword  Tranchefer;  then  place  him  in  this  cham- 
ber, or  any  other  lists  equally  narrow,  and  if  he  flinch, 
or  cry  craven,  or  remain  dead  under  shield,  let  Bren- 
hilda  be  the  prize  of  the  conqueror.  Merciful  Heaven!' 
she  concluded,  as  she  sunk  back  upon  her  seat,  'forgive 
me  for  the  crime  of  even  imagining  such  a  termination, 

324 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

which  is  equal  almost  to  doubting  Thine  unerring  judg- 
ment.' 

'Let  me,  however,'  said  the  Cassar,  'catch  up  these 
precious  words  before  they  fall  to  the  ground.  Let  me 
hope  that  he  to  whom  the  Heavens  shall  give  power 
and  strength  to  conquer  this  highly-esteemed  Count  of 
Paris  shall  succeed  him  in  the  affections  of  Brenhilda; 
and  believe  me,  the  sun  plunges  not  through  the  sky 
to  his  resting-place  with  the  same  celerity  that  I  shall 
hasten  to  the  encounter.' 

'Now,  by  Heaven!'  said  Count  Robert,  in  an  anxious 
whisper  to  Hereward,  'it  is  too  much  to  expect  me  to 
stand  by  and  hear  a  contemptible  Greek,  who  durst  not 
stand  even  the  rattling  farewell  which  Tranchefer  takes 
of  his  scabbard,  brave  me  in  my  absence,  and  affect  to 
make  love  to  my  lady  par  amours.  And  she,  too  — me- 
thinks  Brenhilda  allows  more  license  than  she  is  wont 
to  do  to  yonder  chattering  popinjay.  By  the  rood!  I 
will  spring  into  the  apartment,  front  them  with  my  per- 
sonal appearance,  and  confute  yonder  braggart  in  a  man- 
ner he  is  like  to  remember.' 

'Under  favour,'  said  the  Varangian,  who  was  the  only 
auditor  of  this  violent  speech,  'you  shall  be  ruled  by  calm 
reason  while  I  am  with  you.  When  we  are  separated,  let 
the  devil  of  knight-errantry,  which  has  such  possession 
of  thee,  take  thee  upon  his  shoulders  and  carry  thee  full 
tilt  wheresoever  he  lists.' 

'Thou  art  a  brute,'  said  the  Count,  looking  at  him  with 
a  contempt  corresponding  to  the  expression  he  made 
use  of;  'not  only  without  humanity,  but  without  the 
sense  of  natural  honour  or  natural  shame.  The  most 
despicable  of  animals  stands  not  by  tamely  and  sees 

325 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

another  assail  his  mate.  The  bull  offers  his  horns  to  a 
rival,  the  mastiff  uses  his  Jaws,  and  even  the  timid  stag 
becomes  furious  and  gores.' 

'Because  they  are  beasts,'  said  the  Varangian,  'and 
their  mistresses  also  creatures  without  shame  or  reason, 
who  are  not  aware  of  the  sanctity  of  a  choice.  But  thou, 
too,  Count,  canst  thou  not  see  the  obvious  purpose  of 
this  poor  lady,  forsaken  by  all  the  world,  to  keep  her 
faith  towards  thee,  by  eluding  the  snares  with  which 
wicked  men  have  beset  her?  By  the  souls  of  my  fathers! 
my  heart  is  so  much  moved  by  her  ingenuity,  mingled  as 
I  see  it  is  with  the  most  perfect  candour  and  faith,  that 
I  myself,  in  fault  of  a  better  champion,  would  willingly 
raise  the  axe  in  her  behalf.' 

*I  thank  thee,  my  good  friend,'  said  the  Count  —  'I 
thank  thee  as  heartily  as  if  it  were  possible  thou  shouldst 
be  left  to  do  that  good  office  for  Brenhilda,  the  beloved 
of  many  a  noble  lord,  the  mistress  of  many  a  powerful 
vassal;  and,  what  is  more  —  much  more  than  thanks, 
I  crave  thy  pardon  for  the  wrong  I  did  thee  but  now.' 

'My  pardon  you  cannot  need,'  said  the  Varangian; 
'for  I  take  no  offence  that  is  not  seriously  meant.  Stay, 
they  speak  again.' 

'It  is  strange  it  should  be  so,'  said  the  Caesar,  as  he 
paced  the  apartment;  'but  methinks,  nay,  I  am  almost 
certain,  Agelastes,  that  I  hear  voices  in  the  vicinity  of 
this  apartment  of  thy  privacy.' 

'It  is  impossible,'  said  Agelastes;  'but  I  will  go  and 
see.' 

Perceiving  him  to  leave  the  pavilion,  the  Varangian 
made  the  Frank  sensible  that  they  must  crouch  down 
among  the  little  thicket  of  evergreens,  where  they  lay 

326 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

completely  obscured.  The  philosopher  made  his  rounds 
with  a  heavy  step  but  a  watchful  eye;  and  the  two 
listeners  were  obliged  to  observe  the  strictest  silence, 
without  motion  of  any  kind,  until  he  had  completed  an 
ineffectual  search,  and  returned  into  the  pavilion. 

*By  my  faith,  brave  man,'  said  the  Count,  'ere  we 
return  to  our  skulking-place,  I  must  tell  thee  in  thine 
ear  that  never  in  my  life  was  temptation  so  strong  upon 
me  as  that  which  prompted  me  to  beat  out  that  old 
hypocrite's  brains,  provided  I  could  have  reconciled  it 
with  my  honour;  and  heartily  do  I  wish  that  thou,  whose 
honour  no  way  withheld  thee,  had  experienced  and  given 
way  to  some  impulse  of  a  similar  nature.' 

'Such  fancies  have  passed  through  my  head,'  said  the 
Varangian;  'but  I  will  not  follow  them  till  they  are  con- 
sistent both  with  our  own  safety  and  more  particularly 
with  that  of  the  Countess.' 

'  I  thank  thee  again  for  thy  good- will  to  her,'  said  Count 
Robert;  'and,  by  Heaven!  if  fight  we  must  at  length,  as 
it  seems  likely,  I  will  neither  grudge  thee  an  honourable 
antagonist  nor  fair  quarter  if  the  combat  goes  against 
thee.' 

'Thou  hast  my  thanks,'  was  the  reply  of  Hereward; 
'only,  for  Heaven's  sake,  be  silent  in  this  conjuncture, 
and  do  what  thou  wilt  afterwards.' 

Before  the  Varangian  and  the  Count  had  again  re- 
sumed their  posture  of  listeners,  the  parties  within  the 
pavilion,  conceiving  themselves  unwatched,  had  re- 
sumed their  conversation,  speaking  low,  yet  with  con- 
siderable animation. 

'  It  is  in  vain  you  would  persuade  me,'  said  the  Count- 
ess, '  that  you  know  not  where  my  husband  is,  or  that 

327 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

you  have  not  the  most  absolute  influence  over  his  cap- 
tivity. Who  else  could  have  an  interest  in  banishing  or 
putting  to  death  the  husband  but  he  that  affects  to 
admire  the  wife? ' 

'You  do  me  wrong,  beautiful  lady,'  answered  the 
Caesar,  *  and  forget  that  I  can  in  no  shape  be  termed  the 
moving-spring  of  this  empire;  that  my  father-in-law, 
Alexius,  is  the  Emperor;  and  that  the  woman  who  terms 
herself  my  wife  is  jealous  as  a  fiend  can  be  of  my  slightest 
motion.  What  possibility  was  there  that  I  should  work 
the  captivity  of  your  husband  and  your  own?  The  open 
affront  which  the  Count  of  Paris  put  upon  the  Emperor 
was  one  which  he  was  likely  to  avenge,  either  by  secret 
guile  or  by  open  force.  Me  it  no  way  touched,  save  as  the 
humble  vassal  of  thy  charms;  and  it  was  by  the  wisdom 
and  the  art  of  the  sage,  Agelastes,  that  I  was  able  to  ex- 
tricate thee  from  the  gulf  in  which  thou  hadst  else  cer- 
tainly perished.  Nay,  weep  not,  lady,  for  as  yet  we  know 
not  the  fate  of  Count  Robert;  but,  credit  me,  it  is  wis- 
dom to  choose  a  better  protector,  and  consider  him  as 
no  more.' 

'A  better  than  him,'  said  Brenhilda, '  I  can  never  have, 
were  I  to  choose  out  of  the  knighthood  of  all  the  world.' 

'This  hand,'  said  the  Caesar,  drawing  himself  into  a 
martial  attitude,  '  should  decide  that  question,  were  the 
man  of  whom  thou  thinkest  so  much  yet  moving  on 
the  face  of  this  earth,  and  at  liberty.' 

'Thou  art,'  said  Brenhilda,  looking  fixedly  at  him,  with 
the  fire  of  indignation  flashing  from  every  feature  — ■ 
'  thou  art  —  but  it  avails  not  telling  thee  what  is  thy 
real  name;  believe  me,  the  world  shall  one  day  ring  with 
it,  and  be  justly  sensible  of  its  value.    Observe  what  I 

328 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

am  about  to  say.  Robert  of  Paris  is  gone,  or  captive,  I 
know  not  where.  He  cannot  fight  the  match  of  which 
thou  seemest  so  desirous;  but  here  stands  Brenhilda, 
born  heiress  of  Aspramonte,  by  marriage  the  wedded 
wife  of  the  good  Count  of  Paris.  She  was  never  matched 
in  the  hsts  by  mortal  man  except  the  valiant  Count,  and 
since  thou  art  so  grieved  that  thou  canst  not  meet  her 
husband  in  battle,  thou  canst  not  surely  object  if  she  is 
willing  to  meet  thee  in  his  stead? ' 

'How,  madam!'  said  the  Caesar,  astonished;  'do  you 
propose  yourself  to  hold  the  lists  against  me?' 

'Against  you!'  said  the  Countess  —  'against  all  the 
Grecian  empire,  if  they  shall  affirm  that  Robert  of  Paris 
is  justly  used  and  lawfully  confined.' 

'And  are  the  conditions,'  said  the  Caesar,  'the  same  as 
if  Count  Robert  himself  held  the  lists?  The  vanquished 
must  then  be  at  the  pleasure  of  the  conqueror  for  good 
or  evil.' 

'It  would  seem  so,'  said  the  Countess,  'nor  do  I  refuse 
the  hazard;  only  that,  if  the  other  champion  shall  bite  the 
dust,  the  noble  Count  Robert  shall  be  set  at  liberty,  and 
permitted  to  depart  with  all  suitable  honours.' 

'This  I  refuse  not,'  said  the  Caesar,  'provided  it  is  in 
my  power.' 

A  deep  growling  sound,  like  that  of  a  modern  gong, 
here  interrupted  the  conference. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

The  Varangian  and  Count  Robert,  at  every  risk  of  dis- 
covery, had  remained  so  near  as  fully  to  conjecture, 
though  they  could  not  expressly  overhear,  the  purport  of 
the  conversation. 

*He  has  accepted  her  challenge?*  said  the  Count  of 
Paris. 

*And  with  apparent  willingness,'  said  Hereward. 

'0,  doubtless  —  doubtless,'  answered  the  crusader; 
'but  he  knows  not  the  skill  in  war  which  a  woman  may 
attain ;  for  my  part,  God  knows  I  have  enough  depending 
upon  the  issue  of  this  contest,  yet  such  is  my  confidence, 
that  I  would  to  God  I  had  more.  I  vow  to  Our  Lady  of 
the  Broken  Lances  that  I  desire  every  furrow  of  land  I 
possess,  every  honour  which  I  can  call  my  own,  from  the 
countship  of  Paris  down  to  the  leather  that  binds  my 
spur,  were  dependent  and  at  issue  upon  this  fair  field 
between  your  Caesar,  as  men  term  him,  and  Brenhilda 
of  Aspramonte.' 

*  It  is  a  noble  confidence,'  said  the  Varangian,  *nor 
durst  I  say  it  is  a  rash  one ;  only  I  cannot  but  remember 
that  the  Caesar  is  a  strong  man  as  well  as  a  handsome, 
expert  in  the  use  of  arms,  and,  above  all,  less  strictly 
bound  than  you  esteem  yourself  by  the  rules  of  honour. 
There  are  many  ways  in  which  advantage  may  be  given 
and  taken,  which  will  not,  in  the  Caesar's  estimation, 
alter  the  character  of  the  field  from  an  equal  one,  al- 
though it  might  do  so  in  the  opinion  of  the  chivalrous 

33° 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Count  of  Paris,  or  even  in  that  of  the  poor  Varangian. 
But  first  let  me  conduct  you  to  some  place  of  safety,  for 
your  escape  must  be  soon,  if  it  is  not  already,  detected. 
The  sounds  which  we  heard  intimate  that  some  of  his 
confederate  plotters  have  visited  the  garden  on  other 
than  love  affairs.  I  will  guide  thee  to  another  avenue 
than  that  by  which  we  entered.  But  you  would  hardly,  I 
suppose,  be  pleased  to  adopt  the  wisest  alternative?' 

'And  what  may  that  be?'  said  the  Count. 

'To  give  thy  purse,  though  it  were  thine  all,  to  some 
poor  ferryman  to  waft  thee  over  the  Hellespont,  then 
hasten  to  carry  thy  complaint  to  Godfrey  of  Bouillon, 
and  what  friends  thou  mayst  have  among  thy  brethren 
crusaders,  and  determine,  as  thou  easily  canst,  on  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  them  to  come  back  and  menace  the  city 
with  instant  war,  unless  the  Emperor  should  deliver  up 
thy  lady,  most  unfairly  made  prisoner,  and  prevent,  by 
his  authority,  this  absurd  and  unnatural  combat.' 

*And  would  you  have  me,  then,'  said  Count  Robert, 
'move  the  crusaders  to  break  a  fairly  appointed  field  of 
battle  ?  Do  you  think  that  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  would 
turn  back  upon  his  pilgrimage  for  such  an  unworthy 
purpose ;  or  that  the  Countess  of  Paris  would  accept  as  a 
service  means  of  safety  which  would  stain  her  honour 
for  ever,  by  breaking  an  appointment  solemnly  made  on 
her  own  challenge?  Never.' 

*My  judgment  is  then  at  fault,'  said  the  Varangian, 
'for  I  see  I  can  hammer  out  no  expedient  which  is  not, 
in  some  extravagant  manner  or  another,  controlled  by 
your  foolish  notions.  Here  is  a  man  who  has  been  trapped 
into  the  power  of  his  enemy,  that  he  might  not  interfere 
to  prevent  a  base  stratagem  upon  his  lady,  involving 

331 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

both  her  life  and  honour;  yet  he  thinks  it  a  matter  of 
necessity  that  he  keeps  faith  as  precisely  with  these 
midnight  poisoners  as  he  would  had  it  been  pledged  to 
the  most  honourable  men!' 

'Thou say 'st  a  painful  truth,'  said  Count  Robert;  'but 
my  word  is  the  emblem  of  my  faith ;  and  if  I  pass  it  to  a 
dishonourable  or  faithless  foe,  it  is  imprudently  done  on 
my  part;  but  if  I  break  it,  being  once  pledged,  it  is  a  dis- 
honourable action,  and  the  disgrace  can  never  be  washed 
from  my  shield.' 

'Do  you  mean,  then,'  said  the  Varangian,  'to  suffer 
your  wife's  honour  to  remain  pledged  as  it  at  present  is 
on  the  event  of  an  unequal  combat? ' 

'God  and  the  saints  pardon  thee  such  a  thought!' 
said  the  Count  of  Paris.  'I  will  go  to  see  this  combat 
with  a  heart  as  firm,  if  not  as  light,  as  any  time  I  ever 
saw  spears  splintered.  If  by  the  influence  of  any  acci- 
dent or  treachery  —  for  fairly,  and  with  such  an  antago- 
nist, Brenhilda  of  Aspramonte  cannot  be  overthrown  — 
I  step  into  the  lists,  proclaim  the  Ca3sar  as  he  is  —  a 
villain,  show  the  falsehood  of  his  conduct  from  beginning 
to  end,  appeal  to  every  noble  heart  that  hears  me,  and 
then  —  God  show  the  right!' 

Hereward  paused,  and  shook  his  head.  'All  this,'  he 
said, '  might  be  feasible  enough,  provided  the  combat  were 
to  be  fought  in  the  presence  of  your  own  countrymen,  or 
even,  by  the  mass !  if  the  Varangians  were  to  be  guards 
of  the  lists.  But  treachery  of  every  kind  is  so  familiar 
to  the  Greeks,  that  I  question  if  they  would  view  the 
conduct  of  their  Csesar  as  anything  else  than  a  pardon- 
able and  natural  stratagem  of  Dan  Cupid,  to  be  smiled 
at  rather  than  subjected  to  disgrace  or  punishment.' 

332 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'A  nation,'  said  Count  Robert,  'who  could  smile  at 
such  a  jest,  may  Heaven  refuse  them  sympathy  at  their 
utmost  need,  when  their  sword  is  broken  in  their  hand, 
and  their  wives  and  daughters  shrieking  in  the  relentless 
grasp  of  a  barbarous  enemy ! ' 

Hereward  looked  upon  his  companion,  whose  flushed 
cheeks  and  sparkling  eyes  bore  witness  to  his  enthu- 
siasm. 

*I  see,'  he  said,  'you  are  resolved,  and  I  know  that 
your  resolution  can  in  justice  be  called  by  no  other  name 
than  an  act  of  heroic  folly.  What  then?  It  is  long  since 
life  has  been  bitter  to  the  Varangian  exile.  Morn  has 
raised  him  from  a  joyless  bed,  which  night  has  seen  him 
lie  down  upon,  wearied  with  wielding  a  mercenary  weapon 
in  the  wars  of  strangers.  He  has  longed  to  lay  down 
his  life  in  an  honourable  cause,  and  this  is  one  in  which 
the  extremity  and  very  essence  of  honour  is  implicated. 
It  tallies  also  with  my  scheme  of  saving  the  Emperor, 
which  will  be  greatly  facilitated  by  the  downfall  of  his 
ungrateful  son-in-law.'  Then  addressing  himself  to  the 
Count,  he  continued,  'Well,  sir  count,  as  thou  art  the 
person  principally  concerned,  I  am  willing  to  yield  to 
thy  reasoning  in  this  affair;  but  I  hope  you  will  permit 
me  to  mingle  with  your  resolution  some  advices  of  a  more 
everyday  and  less  fantastic  nature.  For  example,  thy 
escape  from  the  dungeons  of  the  Blacquernal  must  soon 
be  generally  known.  In  prudence,  indeed,  I  myself  must 
be  the  first  to  communicate  it,  since  otherwise  the  sus- 
picion will  fall  on  me.  Where  do  you  think  of  concealing 
yourself,  for  assuredly  the  search  will  be  close  and 
general?' 

'  For  that,'  said  the  Count  of  Paris, '  I  must  be  indebted 

333 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

to  thy  suggestion,  with  thanks  for  every  lie  which  thou 
findest  thyself  obliged  to  make,  to  contrive,  and  produce 
in  my  behalf,  entreating  thee  only  to  render  them  as 
few  as  possible,  they  being  a  coin  which  I  myself  never 
fabricate.' 

'Sir  knight,'  answered  Hereward,  'let  me  begin  first 
by  saying  that  no  knight  that  ever  belted  sword  is  more 
a  slave  to  truth,  when  truth  is  observed  towards  him, 
than  the  poor  soldier  who  talks  to  thee;  but  when  the 
game  depends  not  upon  fair  play,  but  upon  lulUng  men's 
cautiousness  asleep  by  falsehood,  and  drugging  their 
senses  by  opiate  draughts,  they  who  would  scruple  at  no 
means  of  deceiving  me  can  hardly  expect  that  I,  who  am 
paid  in  such  base  money,  should  pass  nothing  on  my  part 
but  what  is  lawful  and  genuine.  For  the  present  thou 
must  remain  concealed  within  my  poor  apartment  in  the 
barracks  of  the  Varangians,  which  is  the  last  place  where 
they  will  think  of  seeking  for  thee.  Take  this,  my  upper 
cloak,  and  follow  me ;  and  now  that  we  are  about  to  leave 
these  gardens,  thou  mayst  follow  me  unsuspected  as  a 
sentinel  attending  his  officer;  for,  take  it  along  with  you, 
noble  count,  that  we  Varangians  are  a  sort  of  persons 
upon  whom  the  Greeks  care  not  to  look  very  long  or 
fixedly.' 

They  now  reached  the  gate  where  they  had  been  ad- 
mitted by  the  negress,  and  Hereward,  who  was  entrusted 
with  the  power,  it  seems,  of  letting  himself  out  of  the 
philosopher's  premises,  though  not  of  entering  without 
assistance  from  the  portress,  took  out  a  key  which  turned 
the  lock  on  the  garden  side,  so  that  they  soon  found  them- 
selves at  liberty.  They  then  proceeded  by  bye-paths 
through  the  city,  Hereward  leading  the  way,  and  the 

334 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Count  following,  without  speech  or  remonstrance,  until 
they  stood  before  the  portal  of  the  barracks  of  the  Varan- 
gians. 

'Make  haste,'  said  the  sentinel  who  was  on  duty, 
'dinner  is  already  begun.'  The  communication  sounded 
joyfully  in  the  ears  of  Here  ward,  who  was  much  afraid 
that  his  companion  might  have  been  stopt  and  examined. 
By  a  side  passage  he  reached  his  own  quarters,  and  intro- 
duced the  Count  into  a  small  room,  the  sleeping-chamber 
of  his  squire,  where  he  apologised  for  leaving  him  for 
some  time;  and,  going  out,  locked  the  door,  for  fear,  as 
he  said,  of  intrusion. 

The  demon  of  suspicion  was  not  very  likely  to  molest 
a  mind  so  frankly  constituted  as  that  of  Count  Robert, 
and  yet  the  last  action  of  Hereward  did  not  fail  to  occa- 
sion some  painful  reflections. 

'This  man,'  he  said,  'had  needs  be  true,  for  I  have  re- 
posed in  him  a  mighty  trust,  which  few  hirelings  in  his 
situation  would  honourably  discharge.  What  is  to  pre- 
vent him  to  report  to  the  principal  ofiicer  of  his  watch 
that  the  Frank  prisoner,  Robert  Count  of  Paris,  whose 
wife  stands  engaged  for  so  desperate  a  combat  with  the 
Caesar,  has  escaped,  indeed,  this  morning  from  the  prisons 
of  the  Blacquernal,  but  has  suffered  himself  to  be  tre- 
panned at  noon,  and  is  again  a  captive  in  the  barracks  of 
the  Varangian  Guard?  What  means  of  defence  are  mine, 
were  I  discovered  to  these  mercenaries?  What  man  could 
do,  by  the  favour  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances,  I 
have  not  failed  to  achieve.  I  have  slain  a  tiger  in  single 
combat.  I  have  killed  one  warder,  and  conquered  the 
desperate  and  gigantic  creature  by  whom  he  was  sup- 
ported. I  have  had  terms  enough  at  command  to  bring 

335 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

over  this  Varangian  to  my  side,  in  appearance  at  least; 
yet  all  this  does  not  encourage  me  to  hope  that  I  could 
long  keep  at  bay  ten  or  a  dozen  such  men  as  these  beef- 
fed  knaves  appear  to  be,  led  in  upon  me  by  a  fellow  of 
thewes  and  sinews  such  as  those  of  my  late  companion. 
Yet,  for  shame,  Robert!  such  thoughts  are  unworthy  a 
descendant  of  Charlemagne.  When  wert  thou  wont  so 
curiously  to  count  thine  enemies,  and  when  wert  thou 
wont  to  be  suspicious,  since  he  whose  bosom  may  truly 
boast  itself  incapable  of  fraud  ought  in  honesty  to  be  the 
last  to  expect  it  in  another?  The  Varangian's  look  is 
open,  his  coolness  in  danger  is  striking,  his  speech  is  more 
frank  and  ready  than  ever  was  that  of  a  traitor.  If  he  is 
false,  there  is  no  faith  in  the  hand  of  nature,  for  truth, 
sincerity,  and  courage  are  written  upon  his  forehead.' 

While  Count  Robert  was  thus  reflecting  upon  his  con- 
dition, and  combating  the  thick-coming  doubts  and  sus- 
picions which  its  uncertainties  gave  rise  to,  he  began  to 
be  sensible  that  he  had  not  eaten  for  many  hours;  and 
amidst  many  doubts  and  fears  of  a  more  heroic  nature, 
he  half  entertained  a  lurking  suspicion  that  they  meant 
to  let  hunger  undermine  his  strength  before  they  adven- 
tured into  the  apartment  to  deal  with  him. 

We  shall  best  see  how  far  these  doubts  were  deserved 
by  Hereward,  or  how  far  they  were  unjust,  by  following 
his  course  after  he  left  his  barrack-room.  Snatching  a 
morsel  of  dinner,  which  he  eat  with  an  affectation  of  great 
hunger,  but,  in  fact,  that  his  attention  to  his  food  might 
be  a  pretence  for  dispensing  with  disagreeable  questions, 
or  with  conversation  of  any  kind,  he  pleaded  duty,  and, 
immediately  leaving  his  comrades,  directed  his  course  to 
the  lodgings  of  Achilles  Tatius,  which  were  a  part  of  the 

336 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

same  building.  A  Syrian  slave,  who  opened  the  door, 
after  a  deep  reverence  to  Hereward,  whom  he  knew  as  a 
favourite  attendant  of  the  Acolyte,  said  to  him  that  his 
master  was  gone  forth,  but  had  desired  him  to  say  that, 
if  he  wished  to  see  him,  he  would  find  him  at  the  Phi- 
losopher's Gardens,  so  called  as  belonging  to  the  sage 
Agelastes. 

Hereward  turned  about  instantly,  and,  availing  himself 
of  his  knowledge  of  Constantinople  to  thread  its  streets 
in  the  shortest  time  possible,  at  length  stood  alone  before 
the  door  in  the  garden-wall  at  which  he  and  the  Count 
of  Paris  had  previously  been  admitted  in  the  earlier  part 
of  the  day.  The  same  negress  appeared  at  the  same  pri- 
vate signal,  and  when  he  asked  for  Achilles  Tatius,  she 
replied,  with  some  sharpness,  'Since  you  were  here  this 
morning,  I  marvel  you  did  not  meet  him,  or  that,  hav- 
ing business  with  him,  you  did  not  stay  till  he  arrived. 
Sure  I  am,  that  not  long  after  you  entered  the  garden  the 
Acolyte  was  inquiring  for  you.' 

'It  skills  not,  old  woman,'  said  the  Varangian;  'I  com- 
municate the  reason  of  my  motions  to  my  commander, 
but  not  to  thee.'  He  entered  the  garden  accordingly,  and, 
avoiding  the  twilight-path  that  led  to  the  Bower  of  Love 
—  so  was  the  pavilion  named  in  which  he  had  overheard 
the  dialogue  between  the  Caesar  and  the  Countess  of 
Paris  —  he  arrived  before  a  simple  garden-house,  whose 
humble  and  modest  front  seemed  to  announce  that  it 
was  the  abode  of  philosophy  and  learning.  Here,  passing 
before  the  windows,  he  made  some  little  noise,  expecting 
to  attract  the  attention  either  of  Achilles  Tatius  or  his 
accomplice  Agelastes,  as  chance  should  determine.  It 
was  the  first  who  heard,  and  who  replied.    The  door 

43  337 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

opened;  a  lofty  plume  stooped  itself,  that  its  owner 
might  cross  the  threshold,  and  the  stately  form  of  Achilles 
Tatius  entered  the  gardens.  'What  now,'  he  said,  'our 
trusty  sentinel?  what  hast  thou,  at  this  time  of  day,  come 
to  report  to  us?  Thou  art  our  good  friend  and  highly- 
esteemed  soldier,  and  well  we  wot  thine  errand  must  be 
of  importance  since  thou  hast  brought  it  thyself,  and  at 
an  hour  so  unusual.' 

'Pray  Heaven,'  said  Hereward,  'that  the  news  I  have 
brought  deserve  a  welcome.' 

'Speak  them  instantly,'  said  the  Acolyte,  'good  or 
bad:  thou  speakest  to  a  man  to  whom  fear  is  unknown.' 
But  his  eye,  which  quailed  as  he  looked  on  the  soldier; 
his  colour,  which  went  and  came;  his  hands,  which 
busied  themselves  in  an  uncertain  manner  in  adjusting 
the  belt  of  his  sword  —  all  argued  a  state  of  mind  very 
different  from  that  which  his  tone  of  defiance  would 
fain  have  implied.  'Courage,'  he  said,  'my  trusty  sol- 
dier! speak  the  news  to  me.  I  can  bear  the  worst  thou 
hast  to  tell.' 

'In  a  word,  then,'  said  the  Varangian,  'your  valour 
directed  me  this  morning  to  play  the  office  of  master  of 
the  rounds  upon  those  dungeons  of  the  Blacquernal 
Palace  where  last  night  the  boisterous  Count  Robert  of 
Paris  was  incarcerated  — ' 

'  I  remember  well,'  said  Achilles  Tatius.  '  What  then? ' 

'As  I  reposed  me,'  said  Hereward,  'in  an  apartment 
above  the  vaults,  I  heard  cries  from  beneath,  of  a  kind 
which  attracted  my  attention.  I  hastened  to  examine, 
and  my  surprise  was  extreme  when,  looking  down  into 
the  dungeon,  though  I  could  see  nothing  distinctly,  yet, 
by  the  wailing  and  whimpering  sounds,  I  conceived  that 

338 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  man  of  the  forest,  the  animal  called  Sylvan,  whom 
our  soldiers  have  so  far  indoctrinated  in  our  Saxon  tongue 
as  to  make  him  useful  in  the  wards  of  the  prison,  was  be- 
moaning himself  on  account  of  some  violent  injury.  De- 
scending with  a  torch,  I  found  the  bed  on  which  the 
prisoner  had  been  let  down  burnt  to  cinders,  the  tiger 
which  had  been  chained  within  a  spring  of  it  with  its 
skull  broken  to  pieces,  the  creature  called  Sylvan  pros- 
trate and  writhing  under  great  pain  and  terror,  and  no 
prisoner  whatever  in  the  dungeon.  There  were  marks 
that  all  the  fastenings  had  been  withdrawn  by  a  Mytile- 
nian  soldier,  companion  of  my  watch,  when  he  visited  the 
dungeon  at  the  usual  hour;  and  as,  in  my  anxious  search, 
I  at  length  found  his  dead  body,  slain  apparently  by  a 
stab  in  the  throat,  I  was  obliged  to  believe  that,  while  I 
was  examining  the  cell,  he,  this  Count  Robert,  with  whose 
daring  life  the  adventure  is  well  consistent,  had  escaped 
to  the  upper  air,  by  means,  doubtless,  of  the  ladder  and 
trap-door  by  which  I  had  descended.' 

'And  wherefore  did'st  thou  not  instantly  call  "trea- 
son," and  raise  the  hue  and  cry? '  demanded  the  Acolyte. 

*I  dared  not  venture  to  do  so,'  replied  the  Varangian, 
'  till  I  had  instructions  from  your  valour.  The  alarming 
cry  of  "  treason,"  and  the  various  rumours  likely  at  this 
moment  to  ensue,  might  have  involved  a  search  so  close 
as  perchance  would  have  discovered  matters  in  which 
the  Acolyte  himself  would  have  been  rendered  subject 
to  suspicion.' 

'Thou  art  right,'  said  Achilles  Tatius,  in  a  whisper; 
*and  yet  it  will  be  necessary  that  we  do  not  pretend  any 
longer  to  conceal  the  flight  of  this  important  prisoner,  if 
we  would  not  pass   for  being  his  accomplices.  Where 

339 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

thinkest  thou  this  unhappy  fugitive  can  have  taken 
refuge? ' 

'That  I  was  in  hopes  of  learning  from  your  valour's 
greater  wisdom,'  said  Hereward. 

'Thinkest  thou  not,'  said  Achilles,  'that  he  may  have 
crossed  the  Hellespont,  in  order  to  rejoin  his  own  coun- 
trymen and  adherents? ' 

'  It  is  much  to  be  dreaded,'  said  Hereward.  '  Undoubt- 
edly, if  the  Count  hstened  to  the  advice  of  any  one  who 
knew  the  face  of  the  country,  such  would  be  the  very 
counsel  he  would  receive.' 

'  The  danger,  then,  of  his  return  at  the  head  of  a  venge- 
ful body  of  Franks,'  said  the  Acolyte, '  is  not  so  immediate 
as  I  apprehended  at  first,  for  the  Emperor  gave  positive 
orders  that  the  boats  and  galleys  which  yesterday  trans- 
ported the  crusaders  to  the  shores  of  Asia  should  recross 
the  strait,  and  bring  back  no  single  one  of  them  from  the 
step  upon  their  journey  on  which  he  had  so  far  furthered 
them.  Besides,  they  all  —  their  leaders,  that  is  to  say — • 
made  their  vows  before  crossing  that  they  would  not 
turn  back  so  much  as  a  foot's  pace,  now  that  they  had 
set  actually  forth  on  the  road  to  Palestine.' 

'So,  therefore,'  said  Hereward,  'one  of  two  proposi- 
tions is  unquestionable  —  either  Count  Robert  is  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  strait,  having  no  means  of  returning 
with  his  brethren  to  avenge  the  usage  he  has  received, 
and  may  therefore  be  securely  set  at  defiance;  or  else  he 
lurks  somewhere  in  Constantinople,  without  a  friend  or 
ally  to  take  his  part,  or  encourage  him  openly  to  state 
his  supposed  wrongs.  In  either  case,  there  can,  I  think, 
be  no  tact  in  conveying  to  the  palace  the  news  that  he 
has  freed  himself,  since  it  would  only  alarm  the  court, 

340 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  afford  the  Emperor  ground  for  many  suspicions.  But 
it  is  not  for  an  ignorant  barbarian  like  me  to  prescribe 
a  course  of  conduct  to  your  valour  and  wisdom,  and  me- 
thinks  the  sage  Agelastes  were  a  fitter  counsellor  than 
such  as  I  am.' 

'No  —  no  —  no,'  said  the  Acolyte,  in  a  hurried  whis- 
per; 'the  philosopher  and  I  are  right  good  friends  — 
sworn  good  friends,  very  especially  bound  together;  but 
should  it  come  to  this  that  one  of  us  must  needs  throw 
before  the  footstool  of  the  Emperor  the  head  of  the  other, 
I  think  thou  wouldst  not  advise  that  I,  whose  hairs  have 
not  a  trace  of  silver,  should  be  the  last  in  making  the 
offering;  wherefore,  we  will  say  nothing  of  this  mishap, 
but  give  thee  full  power  and  the  highest  charge  to  seek 
for  Count  Robert  of  Paris,  be  he  dead  or  alive,  to  secure 
him  within  the  dungeons  set  apart  for  the  discipline  of 
our  own  corps,  and  when  thou  hast  done  so,  to  bring  me 
notice.  I  may  make  him  my  friend  in  many  ways,  by 
extricating  his  wife  from  danger  by  the  axes  of  my  Varan- 
gians. What  is  there  in  this  metropolis  that  they  have 
to  oppose  them?' 

'When  raised  in  a  just  cause,'  answered  Here  ward, 
'nothing.' 

'Hah!  say'st  thou?'  said  the  Acolyte.  'How  meanest 
thou  by  that?  But  I  know.  Thou  art  scrupulous  about 
having  the  just  and  lawful  command  of  thy  officer  in 
every  action  in  which  thou  art  engaged,  and,  thinking 
in  that  dutiful  and  soldierlike  manner,  it  is  my  duty  as 
thine  Acolyte  to  see  thy  scruples  satisfied.  A  warrant 
shalt  thou  have,  with  full  powers,  to  seek  for  and  imprison 
this  foreign  count  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking.  And, 
hark  thee,  my  excellent  friend/  he  continued,  with  some 

341 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

hesitation, '  I  think  thou  hadst  better  begone,  and  begin, 
or  rather  continue,  thy  search.  It  is  unnecessary  to  in- 
form our  friend  Agelastes  of  what  has  happened,  until  his 
advice  be  more  needful  than  as  yet  it  is  on  the  occasion. 
Home  —  home  to  the  barracks ;  I  will  account  to  him 
for  thy  appearance  here,  if  he  be  curious  on  the  subject, 
which,  as  a  suspicious  old  man,  he  is  likely  to  be.  Go  to 
the  barracks,  and  act  as  if  thou  hadst  a  warrant  in  every 
respect  full  and  ample.  I  will  provide  thee  with  one 
when  I  come  back  to  my  quarters.' 

The  Varangian  turned  hastily  homewards. 

'Now,  is  it  not,'  he  said,  'a  strange  thing,  and  enough 
to  make  a  man  a  rogue  for  life,  to  observe  how  the  devil 
encourages  young  beginners  in  falsehood?  I  have  told 
a  greater  lie  —  at  least  I  have  suppressed  more  truth  — 
than  on  any  occasion  before  in  my  whole  life,  and  what 
is  the  consequence?  Why,  my  commander  throws  al- 
most at  my  head  a  warrant  sufficient  to  guarantee  and 
protect  me  in  all  I  have  done,  or  propose  to  do.  If  the 
foul  fiend  were  thus  regular  in  protecting  his  votaries, 
methinks  they  would  have  little  reason  to  complain  of 
him,  or  better  men  to  be  astonished  at  their  number. 
But  a  time  comes,  they  say,  when  he  seldom  fails  to 
desert  them.  Therefore,  get  thee  behind  me,  Satan.  If  I 
have  seemed  to  be  thy  servant  for  a  short  time,  it  is  but 
with  an  honest  and  Christian  purpose.' 

As  he  entertained  these  thoughts,  he  looked  back 
upon  the  path,  and  was  startled  at  an  apparition  of  a 
creature  of  a  much  greater  size,  and  a  stranger  shape, 
than  human,  covered,  all  but  the  face,  with  a  reddish- 
dun  fur;  his  expression  an  ugly,  and  yet  a  sad,  melan- 
choly; a  cloth  was  wrapt  round  one  hand,  and  an  air  of 

342 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

pain  and  languor  bespoke  suffering  from  a  wound.  So 
much  was  Hereward  preoccupied  with  his  own  reflec- 
tions, that  at  first  he  thought  his  imagination  had 
actually  raised  the  devil;  but,  after  a  sudden  start  of 
surprise,  he  recognised  his  acquaintance  Sylvan.  'Hah! 
old  friend,'  he  said,  'I  am  happy  thou  hast  made  thy 
escape  to  a  place  where  thou  wilt  find  plenty  of  fruit 
to  support  thee.  Take  my  advice  —  keep  out  of  the 
way  of  discovery.   Keep  thy  friend's  counsel.' 

The  man  of  the  wood  uttered  a  chattering  noise  in 
return  to  this  address. 

'I  understand  thee,'  said  Hereward,  'thou  wilt  tell 
no  tales,  thou  sayest;  and  faith  I  will  trust  thee  rather 
than  the  better  part  of  my  own  two-legged  race,  who  are 
eternally  circumventing  or  murdering  each  other.' 

A  minute  after  the  creature  was  out  of  sight  Here- 
ward heard  the  shriek  of  a  female,  and  a  voice  which 
cried  for  help.  The  accents  must  have  been  uncommonly 
interesting  to  the  Varangian,  since,  forgetting  his  own 
dangerous  situation,  he  immediately  turned  and  flew  to 
the  suppliant's  assistance. 


CHAPTER  XX 

She  comes!  she  comes!  in  all  the  channs  of  youth, 
Unequall'd  love,  and  unsuspected  truth! 

Hereward  was  not  long  in  tracing  the  cry  through  the 
wooded  walks,  when  a  female  rushed  into  his  arms, 
alarmed,  as  it  appeared,  by  Sylvan,  who  was  pursuing 
her  closely.  The  figure  of  Hereward,  with  his  axe  up- 
lifted, put  an  instant  stop  to  his  career,  and  with  a  terri- 
fied note  of  his  native  cries  he  withdrew  into  the  thickest 
of  the  adjoining  foliage. 

Relieved  from  his  presence,  Hereward  had  time  to 
look  at  the  female  whom  he  had  succoured.  She  was 
arrayed  in  a  dress  which  consisted  of  several  colours, 
that  which  predominated  being  a  pale  yellow;  her  tunic 
was  of  this  colour,  and,  like  a  modern  gown,  was  closely 
fitted  to  the  body,  which,  in  the  present  case,  was  that 
of  a  tall  but  very  well-formed  person.  The  mantle,  or 
upper  garment,  in  which  the  whole  figure  was  wrapped, 
was  of  fine  cloth;  and  the  kind  of  hood  which  was  at- 
tached to  it  having  flown  back  with  the  rapidity  of  her 
motion,  gave  to  view  the  hair,  beautifully  adorned  and 
twisted  into  a  natural  head-dress.  Beneath  this  natural 
head-gear  appeared  a  face  pale  as  death,  from  a  sense  of 
the  supposed  danger,  but  which  preserved,  even  amidst 
its  terrors,  an  exquisite  degree  of  beauty. 

Hereward  was  thunderstruck  at  this  apparition.  The 
dress  was  neither  Grecian,  Italian,  nor  of  the  costume 
of  the  Franks;  it  was  Saxon,  connected  by  a  thou- 

344 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

sand  tender  remembrances  with  Hereward's  childhood 
and  youth.  The  circumstance  was  most  extraordinary. 
Saxon  women,  indeed,  there  were  in  Constantinople, 
who  had  united  their  fortunes  with  those  of  the  Varan- 
gians ;  and  those  often  chose  to  wear  their  national  dress 
in  the  city,  because  the  character  and  conduct  of  their 
husbands  secured  them  a  degree  of  respect  which  they 
might  not  have  met  with  either  as  Grecian  or  as  stranger 
females  of  a  similar  rank.  But  almost  all  these  were  per- 
sonally known  to  Hereward.  It  was  no  time,  however, 
for  reverie :  he  was  himself  in  danger,  the  situation  of  the 
young  female  might  be  no  safe  one.  In  every  case,  it  was 
judicious  to  quit  the  more  public  part  of  the  gardens ;  he 
therefore  lost  not  a  moment  in  conveying  the  fainting 
Saxon  to  a  retreat  he  fortunately  was  acquainted  with. 
A  covered  path,  obscured  by  vegetation,  led  through  a 
species  of  labyrinth  to  an  artificial  cave,  at  the  bottom 
of  which,  half-paved  with  shells,  moss,  and  spar,  lay  the 
gigantic  and  half-recumbent  statue  of  a  river  deity,  with 
its  usual  attributes  —  that  is,  its  front  crowned  with 
water-lilies  and  sedges,  and  its  ample  hand  half-resting 
upon  an  empty  urn.  The  attitude  of  the  whole  figure 
corresponded  with  the  motto  — '  I  sleep  —  awake  me 

NOT.' 

'Accursed  relic  of  paganism,'  said  Hereward,  who  was, 
in  proportion  to  his  light,  a  zealous  Christian  —  '  brut- 
ish stock  or  stone  that  thou  art!  I  will  wake  thee  with  a 
vengeance.'  So  saying,  he  struck  the  head  of  the  slum- 
bering deity  with  his  battle-axe,  and  deranged  the  play 
of  the  fountain  so  much  that  the  water  began  to  pour 
into  the  basin. 

'Thou  art  a  good  block,  nevertheless,'  said  the  Varan- 

345 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

gian,  'to  send  succour  so  needful  to  the  aid  of  my  poor 
countr>-woman.  Thou  shalt  give  her  also,  with  thy  leave, 
a  portion  of  thy  couch.'  So  saying,  he  arranged  his  fair 
burden,  who  was  as  yet  insensible,  upon  the  pedestal 
where  the  figure  of  the  river  god  reclined.  In  doing  this, 
his  attention  was  recalled  to  her  face,  and  again  and  again 
he  was  thrilled  with  an  emotion  of  hope,  but  so  excessively 
like  fear  that  it  could  only  be  compared  to  the  flickering 
of  a  torch,  uncertain  whether  it  is  to  light  up  or  be  in- 
stantly extinguished.  With  a  sort  of  mechanical  atten- 
tion, he  continued  to  make  such  efforts  as  he  could  to 
recall  the  intellect  of  the  beautiful  creature  before  him. 
His  feelings  were  those  of  the  astronomical  sage,  to 
whom  the  rise  of  the  moon  slowly  restores  the  contem- 
plation of  that  heaven  which  is  at  once,  as  a  Christian, 
his  hope  of  felicity,  and,  as  a  philosopher,  the  source 
of  his  knowledge.  The  blood  returned  to  her  cheek, 
and  reanimation,  and  even  recollection,  took  place  in 
her  earlier  than  in  the  astonished  Varangian. 

'Blessed  Mary!'  she  said,  'have  I  indeed  tasted  the 
last  bitter  cup,  and  is  it  here  where  thou  reunitest  thy 
votaries  after  death?  Speak,  Hereward,  if  thou  art  aught 
but  an  empty  creature  of  the  imagination — speak,  and 
tell  me  if  I  have  but  dreamed  of  that  monstrous  ogre!' 

'Collect  thyself,  my  beloved  Bertha,'  said  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  recalled  by  the  sound  of  her  voice,  '  and  prepare 
to  endure  what  thou  Kvest  to  witness,  and  thy  Hereward 
survives  to  tell.  That  hideous  thing  exists  —  nay,  do  not 
start,  and  look  for  a  hiding-place  —  thy  own  gentle 
hand  with  a  riding-rod  is  sufficient  to  tame  its  courage. 
And  am  I  not  here.  Bertha?  Wouldst  thou  wish  another 
safeguard?' 

346 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'No  —  no,'  exclaimed  she,  seizing  on  the  arm  of  her 
recovered  lover.    'Do  I  not  know  you  now?' 

'And  is  it  but  now  you  know  me.  Bertha?'  said  Here- 
ward. 

*I  suspected  before,'  she  said,  casting  down  her  eyes; 
'but  I  know  with  certainty  that  mark  of  the  boar's 
tusk.' 

Hereward  suffered  her  imagination  to  clear  itself  from 
the  shock  it  had  received  so  suddenly  before  he  ventured 
to  enter  upon  present  events,  in  which  there  was  so  much 
both  to  doubt  and  to  fear.  He  permitted  her,  therefore, 
to  recall  to  her  memory  all  the  circumstances  of  the  rous- 
ing the  hideous  animal,  assisted  by  the  tribes  of  both 
their  fathers.  She  mentioned  in  broken  words  the  flight 
of  arrows  discharged  against  the  boar  by  young  and  old, 
male  and  female,  and  how  her  own  well-aimed  but  feeble 
shaft  wounded  him  sharply;  she  forgot  not  how,  incensed 
at  the  pain,  the  creature  rushed  upon  her  as  the  cause, 
laid  her  palfrey  dead  upon  the  spot,  and  would  soon  have 
slain  her,  had  not  Hereward,  when  every  attempt  failed 
to  bring  his  horse  up  to  the  monster,  thrown  himself 
from  his  seat  and  interposed  personally  between  the 
boar  and  Bertha.  The  battle  was  not  decided  without 
a  desperate  struggle;  the  boar  was  slain,  but  Here- 
ward received  the  deep  gash  upon  his  brow  which  she 
whom  he  had  saved  now  recalled  to  her  memory. 
'Alas!'  she  said,  'what  have  we  been  to  each  other 
since  that  period?  and  what  are  we  now,  in  this  foreign 
land?' 

'Answer  for  thyself,  my  Bertha,'  said  the  Varangian, 
'if  thou  canst;  and  if  thou  canst  with  truth  say  that  thou 
art  the  same  Bertha  who  vowed  affection  to  Hereward, 

347 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

believe  me,  it  were  sinful  to  suppose  that  the  saints  have 
brought  us  together  with  a  view  of  our  being  afterwards 
separated.' 

'Hereward/  said  Bertha,  'you  have  not  preserved  the 
bird  in  your  bosom  safer  than  I  have :  at  home  or  abroad, 
in  servitude  or  in  freedom,  amidst  sorrow  or  joy,  plenty 
or  want,  my  thought  was  always  on  the  troth  I  had 
plighted  to  Hereward  at  the  stone  of  Odin.' 

'Say  no  more  of  that,'  said  Hereward;  'it  was  an  im- 
pious rite,  and  good  could  not  come  of  it.' 

'Was  it  then  so  impious?'  she  said,  the  unbidden  tear 
rushing  into  her  large  blue  eye.  'Alas!  it  was  a  pleasure 
to  reflect  that  Hereward  was  mine  by  that  solemn  en- 
gagement.' 

'Listen  to  me,  my  Bertha,'  said  Hereward,  taking  her 
hand.  'We  were  then  almost  children;  and  though  our 
vow  was  in  itself  innocent,  yet  it  was  so  far  wrong,  as 
being  sworn  in  the  presence  of  a  dumb  idol,  representing 
one  who  was,  while  alive,  a  bloody  and  cruel  magician 
But  we  will,  the  instant  an  opportunity  offers  itself,  re- 
new our  vow  before  a  shrine  of  real  sanctity,  and  promise 
suitable  penance  for  our  ignorant  acknowledgment  of 
Odin,  to  propitiate  the  real  Deity,  who  can  bear  us 
through  those  storms  of  adversity  which  are  like  to  sur- 
round us.' 

Leaving  them  for  the  time  to  their  love-discourse,  of  a 
nature  pure,  simple,  and  interesting,  we  shall  give,  in 
few  words,  all  that  the  reader  needs  to  know  of  their 
separate  history  between  the  boar's  hunt  and  the  time 
of  their  meeting  in  the  gardens  of  Agelastes. 

In  that  doubtful  state  experienced  by  outlaws,  Wal- 
theoff,  the  father  of  Hereward,  and  Engelred,  the  parent 

348 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

of  Bertha,  used  to  assemble  their  unsubdued  tribes, 
sometimes  in  the  fertile  regions  of  Devonshire,  sometimes 
in  the  dark  wooded  solitudes  of  Hampshire,  but  as  much 
as  possible  within  the  call  of  the  bugle  of  the  famous 
Ederic  the  Forester,  so  long  leader  of  the  insurgent 
Saxons.  The  chiefs  we  have  mentioned  were  among 
the  last  bold  men  who  asserted  the  independence  of  the 
Saxon  race  of  England;  and  like  their  captain,  Ederic, 
they  were  generally  known  by  the  name  of  Foresters,  as 
men  who  lived  by  hunting,  when  their  power  of  making 
excursions  was  checked  and  repelled.  Hence  they  made 
a  step  backwards  in  civilisation,  and  became  more  like 
to  their  remote  ancestors  of  German  descent  than  they 
were  to  their  more  immediate  and  civilised  predecessors, 
who,  before  the  battle  of  Hastings,  had  advanced  con- 
siderably in  the  arts  of  civilised  life. 

Old  superstitions  had  begun  to  revive  among  them, 
and  hence  the  practice  of  youths  and  maidens  plighting 
their  troth  at  the  stone  circles  dedicated,  as  it  was  sup- 
posed, to  Odin,  in  whom,  however,  they  had  long  ceased 
to  nourish  any  of  the  sincere  belief  which  was  entertained 
by  their  heathen  ancestors. 

In  another  respect  these  outlaws  were  fast  reassuming 
a  striking  peculiarity  of  the  ancient  Germans.  Their 
circumstances  naturally  brought  the  youth  of  both 
sexes  much  together,  and  by  early  marriage,  or  less  per- 
manent connexions,  the  population  would  have  increased 
far  beyond  the  means  which  the  outlaws  had  to  maintain, 
or  even  to  protect,  themselves.  The  laws  of  the  Foresters, 
therefore,  strictly  enjoined  that  marriages  should  be 
prohibited  until  the  bridegroom  was  twenty-one  years 
complete.  Future  alliances  were  indeed  often  formed  by 

349 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  young  people,  nor  was  this  discountenanced  by  their 
parents,  provided  that  the  lovers  waited  until  the  period 
when  the  majority  of  the  bridegroom  should  permit  them 
to  marry.  Such  youths  as  infringed  this  rule  incurred  the 
dishonourable  epithet  of  'niddering,'  or  worthless  —  an 
epithet  of  a  nature  so  insulting,  that  men  were  known 
to  have  slain  themselves  rather  than  endure  life  under 
such  opprobrium.  But  the  offenders  were  very  few  amidst 
a  race  trained  in  moderation  and  self-denial ;  and  hence 
it  was  that  woman,  worshipped  for  so  many  years  like 
something  sacred,  was  received,  when  she  became  the 
head  of  a  family,  into  the  arms  and  heart  of  a  husband 
who  had  so  long  expected  her,  was  treated  as  something 
more  elevated  than  the  mere  idol  of  the  moment,  and, 
feeling  the  rate  at  which  she  was  valued,  endeavoured 
by  her  actions  to  make  her  life  correspond  with  it. 

It  was  by  the  whole  population  of  these  tribes  as  well 
as  their  parents,  that,  after  the  adventure  of  the  boar- 
hunt,  Hereward  and  Bertha  were  considered  as  lovers 
whose  alliance  was  pointed  out  by  Heaven,  and  they  were 
encouraged  to  approximate  as  much  as  their  mutual 
inclinations  prompted  them.  The  youths  of  the  tribe 
avoided  asking  Bertha's  hand  at  the  dance,  and  the 
maidens  used  no  maidenly  entreaty  or  artifice  to  detain 
Hereward  beside  them  if  Bertha  was  present  at  the  feast. 
They  clasped  each  other's  hands  through  the  perforated 
stone  which  they  called  the  altar  of  Odin,  though  later 
ages  have  ascribed  it  to  the  Druids,  and  they  implored 
that,  if  they  broke  their  faith  to  each  other,  their  fault 
might  be  avenged  by  the  twelve  swords  which  were  now 
drawn  around  them  during  the  ceremony  by  as  many 
youths,  and  that  their  misfortunes  might  be  so  many 

3SO 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

as  twelve  maidens,  who  stood  around  with  their  hair 
loosened,  should  be  unable  to  recount,  either  in  prose 
or  verse. 

The  torch  of  the  Saxon  Cupid  shone  for  some  years  as 
brilliant  as  when  it  was  first  lighted.  The  time,  however, 
came  when  they  were  to  be  tried  by  adversity,  though 
undeserved  by  the  perfidy  of  either.  Years  had  gone 
past,  and  Hereward  had  to  count  with  anxiety  how 
many  months  and  weeks  were  to  separate  him  from  the 
bride  who  was  beginning  already  by  degrees  to  shrink 
less  shyly  from  the  expressions  and  caresses  of  one  who 
was  soon  to  term  her  all  his  own.  Wilham  Rufus,  how- 
ever, had  formed  a  plan  of  totally  extirpating  the  For- 
esters, whose  implacable  hatred  and  restless  love  of  free- 
dom had  so  often  disturbed  the  quiet  of  his  kingdom, 
and  despised  his  forest  laws.  He  assembled  his  Norman 
forces,  and  united  to  them  a  body  of  Saxons  who  had 
submitted  to  his  rule.  He  thus  brought  an  overpowering 
force  upon  the  bands  of  Waltheoff  and  Engelred,  who 
found  no  resource  but  to  throw  the  females  of  their  tribe, 
and  such  as  could  not  bear  arms,  into  a  convent  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Augustine,  of  which  Kenelm  their  relation 
was  prior,  and  then  turning  to  the  battle,  vindicated  their 
ancient  valour  by  fighting  it  to  the  last.  Both  the  unfor- 
tunate chiefs  remained  dead  on  the  field,  and  Hereward 
and  his  brother  had  well-nigh  shared  their  fate;  but  some 
Saxon  inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  adven- 
tured on  the  field  of  battle,  which  the  victors  had  left 
bare  of  everything  save  the  booty  of  the  kites  and  the 
ravens,  found  the  bodies  of  the  youths  still  retaining  life. 
As  they  were  generally  well  known  and  much  beloved  by 
these  people,  Hereward  and  his  brother  were  taken  care 

3SI 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  till  their  wounds  began  to  close  and  their  strength  re- 
turned. Hereward  then  heard  the  doleful  news  of  the 
death  of  his  father  and  Engelred.  His  next  inquiry  was 
concerning  his  betrothed  bride  and  her  mother.  The 
poor  inhabitants  could  give  him  little  information.  Some 
of  the  females  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  convent  the 
Norman  knights  and  nobles  had  seized  upon  as  their 
slaves,  and  the  rest,  with  the  monks  who  had  harboured 
them,  were  turned  adrift,  and  their  place  of  retreat  was 
completely  sacked  and  burnt  to  the  ground. 

Half -dead  himself  at  hearing  these  tidings,  Hereward 
sallied  out,  and  at  every  risk  of  death,  for  the  Saxon  For- 
esters were  treated  as  outlaws,  commenced  inquiries 
after  those  so  dear  to  him.  He  asked  concerning  the  par- 
ticular fate  of  Bertha  and  her  mother  among  the  miser- 
able creatures  who  yet  hovered  about  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  convent,  like  a  few  half-scorched  bees  about  their 
smothered  hive.  But,  in  the  magnitude  of  their  own 
terrors,  none  had  retained  eyes  for  their  neighbours,  and 
all  that  they  could  say  was,  that  the  wife  and  daughter 
of  Engelred  were  certainly  lost;  and  their  imaginations 
suggested  so  many  heart-rending  details  to  this  conclu- 
sion, that  Hereward  gave  up  all  thoughts  of  further  re- 
searches, likely  to  terminate  so  uselessly  and  so  horribly. 

The  young  Saxon  had  been  all  his  life  bred  up  in  a 
patriotic  hatred  to  the  Normans,  who  did  not,  it  was 
likely,  become  dearer  to  his  thoughts  in  consequence  of 
this  victory.  He  dreamed  at  first  of  crossing  the  strait, 
to  make  war  against  the  hated  enemy  in  their  own  coun- 
try; but  an  idea  so  extravagant  did  not  long  retain  pos- 
session of  his  mind.  His  fate  was  decided  by  his  encoun- 
tering an  aged  palmer,  who  knew,  or  pretended  to  have 

352 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

known,  his  father,  and  to  be  a  native  of  England.  This 
man  was  a  disguised  Varangian,  selected  for  the  purpose, 
possessed  of  art  and  dexterity,  and  well  provided  with 
money.  He  had  little  difficulty  in  persuading  Here  ward, 
in  the  hopeless  desolation  of  his  condition,  to  join  the 
Varangian  Guard,  at  this  moment  at  war  with  the  Nor- 
mans, under  which  name  it  suited  Hereward's  prepos- 
sessions to  represent  the  Emperor's  wars  with  Robert 
Guiscard,  his  son  Bohemond,  and  other  adventurers,  in 
Italy,  Greece,  or  Sicily.  A  journey  to  the  East  also  in- 
ferred a  pilgrimage,  and  gave  the  unfortunate  Hereward 
the  chance  of  purchasing  pardon  for  his  sins  by  visiting 
the  Holy  Land.  In  gaining  Hereward,  the  recruiter  also 
secured  the  services  of  his  elder  brother,  who  had  vowed 
not  to  separate  from  him. 

The  high  character  of  both  brothers  for  courage  in- 
duced this  wily  agent  to  consider  them  as  a  great  prize, 
and  it  was  from  the  memoranda  respecting  the  history 
and  character  of  those  whom  he  recruited,  in  which  the 
elder  had  been  unreservedly  communicative,  that  Agel- 
astes  picked  up  the  information  respecting  Hereward's 
family  and  circumstances,  which,  at  their  first  secret  in- 
terview, he  made  use  of  to  impress  upon  the  Verangian 
the  idea  of  his  supernatural  knowledge.  Several  of  his 
companions-in-arms  were  thus  gained  over;  for  it  will 
easily  be  guessed  that  these  memorials  were  entrusted  to 
the  keeping  of  Achilles  Tatius,  and  he,  to  further  their 
joint  purposes,  imparted  them  to  Agelastes,  who  thus 
obtained  a  general  credit  for  supernatural  knowledge 
among  these  ignorant  men.  But  Hereward's  blunt  faith 
and  honesty  enabled  him  to  shun  the  snare. 

Such  being  the  fortunes  of  Hereward,  those  of  Bertha 

«  353 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

formed  the  subject  of  a  broken  and  passionate  communi- 
cation between  the  lovers,  broken  Hke  an  April  day,  and 
mingled  with  many  a  tender  caress,  such  as  modesty 
permits  to  lovers  when  they  meet  again  unexpectedly 
after  a  separation  which  threatened  to  be  eternal.  But 
the  story  may  be  comprehended  in  few  words.  Amid  the 
general  sack  of  the  monastery,  an  old  Norman  knight 
seized  upon  Bertha  as  his  prize.  Struck  with  her  beauty, 
he  designed  her  as  an  attendant  upon  his  daughter,  just 
then  come  out  of  the  years  of  childhood,  and  the  very  ap- 
ple of  her  father's  eye,  being  the  only  child  of  his  beloved 
countess,  and  sent  late  in  life  to  bless  their  marriage  bed. 
It  was  in  the  order  of  things  that  the  Lady  of  Aspra- 
monte,  who  was  considerably  younger  than  the  knight, 
should  govern  her  husband,  and  that  Brenhilda,  their 
daughter,  should  govern  both  her  parents. 

The  knight  of  Aspramonte,  however,  it  may  be  ob- 
served, entertained  some  desire  to  direct  his  young  off- 
spring to  more  feminine  amusements  than  those  which 
began  already  to  put  her  life  frequently  in  danger.  Con- 
tradiction was  not  to  be  thought  of,  as  the  good  old 
knight  knew  by  experience.  The  influence  and  example 
of  a  companion  a  little  older  than  herself  might  be  of 
some  avail,  and  it  was  with  this  view  that,  in  the  con- 
fusion of  the  sack,  Aspramonte  seized  upon  the  youthful 
Bertha.  Terrified  to  the  utmost  degree,  she  clung  to  her 
mother,  and  the  knight  of  Aspramonte,  who  had  a  softer 
heart  than  was  then  usually  found  under  a  steel  cuirass, 
moved  by  the  affliction  of  the  mother  and  daughter, 
and  recollecting  that  the  former  might  also  be  a  useful 
attendant  upon  his  lady,  extended  his  protection  to  both, 
and,  conveying  them  out  of  the  press,  paid  the  soldiers 

354 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

who  ventured  to  dispute  the  spoil  with  him  partly  in 
some  small  pieces  of  money,  and  partly  in  dry  blows 
with  the  reverse  of  his  lance. 

The  well-natured  knight  soon  after  returned  to  his 
own  castle,  and  being  a  man  of  an  orderly  life  and  vir- 
tuous habits,  the  charming  beauties  of  the  Saxon  virgin, 
and  the  more  ripened  charms  of  her  mother,  did  not  pre- 
vent their  travelling  in  all  honour  as  well  as  safety  to  his 
family  fortress,  the  Castle  of  Aspramonte.  Here  such 
masters  as  could  be  procured  were  got  together  to  teach 
the  young  Bertha  every  sort  of  female  accomplishment, 
in  the  hope  that  her  mistress,  Brenhilda,  might  be  in- 
spired with  a  desire  to  partake  in  her  education;  but  al- 
though this  so  far  succeeded  that  the  Saxon  captive  be- 
came highly  skilled  in  such  music,  needlework,  and  other 
female  accomplishments  as  were  known  to  the  time,  yet 
her  young  mistress,  Brenhilda,  retained  the  taste  for 
those  martial  amusements  which  had  so  sensibly  grieved 
her  father,  but  to  which  her  mother,  who  herself  had 
nourished  such  fancies  in  her  youth,  readily  gave  sanc- 
tion. 

The  captives,  however,  were  kindly  treated.  Bren- 
hilda became  infinitely  attached  to  the  young  Anglo- 
Saxon,  whom  she  loved  less  for  her  ingenuity  in  arts  than 
for  her  activity  in  field  sports,  to  which  her  early  state  of 
independence  had  trained  her. 

The  Lady  of  Aspramonte  was  also  kind  to  both  the 
captives;  but  in  one  particular  she  exercised  a  piece  of 
petty  tyranny  over  them.  She  had  imbibed  an  idea, 
strengthened  by  an  old  doting  father-confessor,  that  the 
Saxons  were  heathens  at  that  time,  or  at  least  heretics, 
and  made  a  positive  point  with  her  husband  that  the 

355 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

bondswoman  and  girl  who  were  to  attend  on  her  person 

and  that  of  her  daughter  should  be  quaHfied  for  the  office 
by  being  anew  admitted  into  the  Christian  Church  by 
baptism. 

Though  feeling  the  falsehood  and  injustice  of  the  accu- 
sation, the  mother  had  sense  enough  to  submit  to  neces- 
sity, and  received  the  name  of  Martha  in  all  form  at  the 
altar,  to  which  she  answered  during  the  rest  of  her  life. 

But  Bertha  showed  a  character  upon  this  occasion  in- 
consistent with  the  general  docility  and  gentleness  of  her 
temper.  She  boldly  refused  to  be  admitted  anew  into  the 
pale  of  the  church,  of  which  her  conscience  told  her  she 
was  already  a  member,  or  to  exchange  for  another  the 
name  originally  given  her  at  the  font.  It  was  in  vain 
that  the  old  knight  commanded,  that  the  lady  threat- 
ened, and  that  her  mother  advised  and  entreated.  More 
closely  pressed  in  private  by  her  mother,  she  let  her  mo- 
tive be  known,  which  had  not  before  been  suspected.  '  I 
know,'  she  said,  with  a  flood  of  tears,  'that  my  father 
would  have  died  ere  I  was  subjected  to  this  insult;  and 
then  —  who  shall  assure  me  that  vows  which  were  made 
to  the  Saxon  Bertha  will  be  binding  if  a  French  Agatha 
be  substituted  in  her  stead?  They  may  banish  me,'  she 
said,  'or  kill  me  if  they  will,  but  if  the  son  of  Waltheoff 
should  again  meet  with  the  daughter  of  Engelred,  he 
shall  meet  that  Bertha  whom  he  knew  in  the  forests  of 
Hampton.' 

All  argument  was  in  vain:  the  Saxon  maiden  remained 
obstinate,  and  to  try  to  break  her  resolution,  the  Lady 
of  Aspramonte  at  length  spoke  of  dismissing  her  from 
the  service  of  her  young  mistress,  and  banishing  her 
from  the  castle.  To  this  also  she  had  made  up  her  mind, 

356 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  she  answered  firmly,  though  respectfully,  that  she 
would  sorrow  bitterly  at  parting  with  her  young  lady; 
but  as  to  the  rest,  she  would  rather  beg  under  her  own 
name  than  be  recreant  to  the  faith  of  her  fathers,  and 
condemn  it  as  heresy,  by  assuming  one  of  Frank  origin. 
The  Lady  Brenhilda,  in  the  meantime,  entered  the 
chamber  where  her  mother  was  just  about  to  pass  the 
threatened  doom  of  banishment.  *Do  not  stop  for  my 
entrance,  madam,'  said  the  dauntless  young  lady;  *I  am 
as  much  concerned  in  the  doom  which  you  are  about  to 
pass  as  is  Bertha;  if  she  crosses  the  drawbridge  of  Aspra- 
monte  as  an  exile,  so  will  I,  when  she  has  dried  her 
tears,  of  which  even  my  petulance  could  never  wring 
one  from  her  eyes.  She  shall  be  my  squire  and  body  at- 
tendant, and  Launcelot,  the  bard,  shall  follow  with  my 
spear  and  shield.' 

'And  you  will  return,  mistress,'  said  her  mother,  'from 
so  foohsh  an  expedition  before  the  sun  sets? ' 

*  So  Heaven  further  me  in  my  purpose,  lady,'  answered 
the  young  heiress, '  the  sun  shall  neither  rise  nor  set  that 
sees  us  return  till  this  name  of  Bertha,  and  of  her  mis- 
tress, Brenhilda,  are  wafted  as  far  as  the  trumpet  of  fame 
can  sound  them.  Cheer  up,  my  sweetest  Bertha!'  she 
said,  taking  her  attendant  by  the  hand,  'if  Heaven  hath 
torn  thee  from  thy  country  and  thy  plighted  troth,  it 
hath  given  thee  a  sister  and  a  friend,  with  whom  thy 
fame  shall  be  for  ever  blended.' 

The  Lady  of  Aspramonte  was  confounded.  She  knew 
that  her  daughter  was  perfectly  capable  of  the  wild 
course  which  she  had  announced,  and  that  she  herself, 
even  with  her  husband's  assistance,  would  be  unable  to 
prevent  her  following  it.   She  passively  listened,  there- 

357 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

fore,  while  the  Saxon  matron,  fonnerly  Urica,  but  now 
Martha,  addressed  her  daughter.  *  My  child, '  she  said, 
*as  you  value  honour,  virtue,  safety,  and  gratitude, 
soften  your  heart  towards  your  master  and  mistress,  and 
follow  the  advice  of  a  parent,  who  has  more  years  and 
more  judgment  than  you.  And  you,  my  dearest  young 
lady,  let  not  your  lady-mother  think  that  an  attachment 
to  the  exercises  you  excel  in  has  destroyed  in  your  bosom 
filial  affection  and  a  regard  to  the  delicacy  of  your  sex. 
As  they  seem  both  obstinate,  madam,'  continued  the 
matron,  after  watching  the  influence  of  this  advice  upon 
the  young  women,  'perhaps,  if  it  may  be  permitted  me, 
I  could  state  an  alternative  which  might,  in  the  mean- 
while, satisfy  your  ladyship's  wishes,  accommodate 
itself  to  the  wilfulness  of  my  obstinate  daughter,  and 
answer  the  kind  purpose  of  her  generous  mistress.' 

The  Lady  of  Aspramonte  signed  to  the  Saxon  matron 
to  proceed.  She  went  on  accordingly : '  The  Saxons,  dear- 
est lady,  of  the  present  day,  are  neither  pagans  nor  here- 
tics: they  are,  in  the  time  of  keeping  Easter,  as  well  as  in 
all  other  disputable  doctrine,  humbly  obedient  to  the 
Pope  of  Rome;  and  this  our  good  bLshop  well  knows, 
since  he  upbraided  some  of  the  domestics  for  calling  me 
an  old  heathen.  Yet  our  names  are  uncouth  in  the  ears  of 
the  Franks,  and  bear,  perhaps,  a  heathenish  sound.  If  it 
be  not  exacted  that  my  daughter  submit  to  a  new  rite  of 
baptism,  she  will  lay  aside  her  Saxon  name  of  Bertha 
upon  all  occasions  while  in  your  honourable  household. 
This  will  cut  short  a  debate  which,  with  forgiveness,  I 
think  is  scarce  of  importance  enough  to  break  the  peace 
of  this  castle.  I  will  engage  that,  in  gratitude  for  this 
indulgence  of  a  trifling  scruple,  my  daughter,  if  possible, 

358 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PAkIS 

shall  double  the  zeal  and  assiduity  of  her  service  to  her 
young  lady.' 

The  Lady  of  Aspramonte  was  glad  to  embrace  the 
means  which  this  offer  presented  of  extricating  herself 
from  the  dispute  with  as  little  compromise  of  dignity  as 
could  well  be.  'If  the  good  Lord  Bishop  approved  of 
such  a  compromise,'  she  said,  'she  would  for  herself 
withdraw  her  opposition.'  The  prelate  approved  accord- 
ingly, the  more  readily  that  he  was  informed  that  the 
young  heiress  desired  earnestly  such  an  agreement.  The 
peace  of  the  castle  was  restored,  and  Bertha  recognised 
her  new  name  of  Agatha  as  a  name  of  service,  but  not  a 
name  of  baptism. 

One  effect  the  dispute  certainly  produced,  and  that 
was,  increasing  in  an  enthusiastic  degree  the  love  of 
Bertha  for  her  young  mistress.  With  that  amiable  fail- 
ing of  attached  domestics  and  humble  friends,  she  en- 
deavoured to  serve  her  as  she  knew  she  loved  to  be  served ; 
and  therefore  indulged  her  mistress  in  those  chivalrous 
fancies  which  distinguished  her  even  in  her  own  age,  and 
in  ours  would  have  rendered  her  a  female  Quixote. 
Bertha,  indeed,  never  caught  the  frenzy  of  her  mistress; 
but,  strong,  willing,  and  able-bodied,  she  readily  quali- 
fied herself  to  act  upon  occasion  as  a  squire  of  the  body 
to  a  lady  adventuress;  and,  accustomed  from  her  child- 
hood to  see  blows  dealt,  blood  flowing,  and  men  dying, 
she  could  look  with  an  undazzled  eye  upon  the  dangers 
which  her  mistress  encoimtered,  and  seldom  teazed  her 
with  remonstrances,  unless  when  those  were  unusually 
great.  This  compliance  on  most  occasions  gave  Bertha 
a  right  of  advice  upon  some,  which,  always  given  with 
the  best  intentions  and  at  fitting  times,  strengthened  her 

359 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

influence  with  her  mistress,  which  a  course  of  conduct 
savouring  of  diametrical  opposition  would  certainly  have 
destroyed. 

A  few  more  words  serve  to  announce  the  death  of  the 
knight  of  Aspramonte,  the  romantic  marriage  of  the 
young  lady  with  the  Count  of  Paris,  their  engagement  in 
the  crusade,  and  the  detail  of  events  with  which  the 
reader  is  acquainted. 

Hereward  did  not  exactly  comprehend  some  of  the 
later  incidents  of  the  story,  owing  to  a  slight  strife  which 
arose  between  Bertha  and  him  during  the  course  of  her 
narrative.  When  she  avowed  the  girlish  simplicity  with 
which  she  obstinately  refused  to  change  her  name,  be- 
cause, in  her  apprehension,  the  troth-plight  betwixt  her 
and  her  lover  might  be  thereby  prejudiced,  it  was  im- 
possible for  Hereward  not  to  acknowledge  her  tender- 
ness by  snatching  her  to  his  bosom  and  impressing  his 
grateful  thanks  upon  her  lips.  She  extricated  herself 
immediately  from  his  grasp,  however,  with  cheeks  more 
crimsoned  in  modesty  than  in  anger,  and  gravely  ad- 
dressed her  lover  thus:  'Enough  —  enough,  Hereward, 
this  may  be  pardoned  to  so  unexpected  a  meeting,  but 
we  must  in  future  remember  that  we  are  probably  the 
last  of  our  race;  and  let  it  not  be  said  that  the  manners 
of  their  ancestors  were  forgotten  by  Hereward  and  by 
Bertha.  Think  that,  though  we  are  alone,  the  shades  of 
our  fathers  are  not  far  off,  and  watch  to  see  what  use  we 
make  of  the  meeting  which,  perhaps,  their  intercession 
has  procured  us.' 

'You  wrong  me,  Bertha,'  said  Hereward,  'if  you  think 
me  capable  of  forgetting  my  own  duty  and  yours  at  a 
moment  when  our  thanks  are  due  to  Heaven,  to  be  testi- 

360 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

fied  very  differently  than  by  infringing  on  its  behests  or 
the  commands  of  our  parents.  The  question  is  now,  How 
we  shall  rejoin  each  other  when  we  separate,  since  sepa- 
rate, I  fear,  we  must?' 

'O!  do  not  say  so,'  exclaimed  the  unfortunate  Bertha. 

*It  must  be  so,'  said  Hereward,  *for  a  time;  but  I 
swear  to  thee,  by  the  hilt  of  my  sword  and  the  handle 
of  my  battle-axe,  that  blade  was  never  so  true  to  shaft 
as  I  will  be  to  thee.' 

'But  wherefore,  then,  leave  me,  Hereward?'  said  the 
maiden;  'and,  oh!  wherefore  not  assist  me  in  the  release 
of  my  mistress? ' 

*  Of  thy  mistress ! '  said  Hereward.  *  Shame !  that  thou 
canst  give  that  name  to  mortal  woman ! ' 

'But  she  is  my  mistress,'  answered  Bertha,  'and  by  a 
thousand  kind  ties,  which  cannot  be  separated  so  long  as 
gratitude  is  the  reward  of  kindness.' 

*  And  what  is  her  danger,'  said  Hereward  —  'what  is  it 
she  wants,  this  accomplished  lady  whom  thou  callest 
mistress? ' 

'Her  honour,  her  life,  are  alike  in  danger,'  said  Bertha. 
'  She  has  agreed  to  meet  the  Caesar  in  the  field,  and  he  will 
not  hesitate,  like  a  base-born  miscreant,  to  take  every 
advantage  in  the  encounter,  which,  I  grieve  to  say,  may 
in  all  likelihood  be  fatal  to  my  mistress.' 

'Why  dost  thou  think  so?'  answered  Hereward. 
'This  lady  has  won  many  single  combats,  unless  she  is 
belied,  against  adversaries  more  formidable  than  the 
Caesar.' 

'True,'  said  the  Saxon  maiden;  'but  you  speak  of 
things  that  passed  in  a  far  different  land,  where  faith 
and  honour  are  not  empty  sounds,  as,  alas!  they  seem 

361 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

but  too  surely  to  be  here.  Trust  me,  it  is  no  girlish  ter- 
ror which  sends  me  out  in  this  disguise  of  my  country 
dress,  which,  they  say,  finds  respect  at  Constantinople : 
I  go  to  let  the  chiefs  of  the  crusade  know  the  peril  in 
which  the  noble  lady  stands,  and  trust  to  their  humanity, 
to  their  religion,  to  their  love  of  honour,  and  fear  of  dis- 
grace, for  assistance  in  this  hour  of  need ;  and  now  that  I 
have  had  the  blessing  of  meeting  with  thee,  all  besides 
will  go  well  —  all  will  go  well  —  and  I  will  back  to  my 
mistress  and  report  whom  I  have  seen.' 

'Tarry  yet  another  moment,  my  recovered  treasure,' 
said  Hereward, '  and  let  me  balance  this  matter  carefully. 
This  Frankish  lady  holds  the  Saxons  like  the  very  dust 
that  thou  brushest  from  the  hem  of  her  garment.  She 
treats,  she  regards,  the  Saxons  as  pagans  and  heretics. 
She  has  dared  to  impose  slavish  tasks  upon  thee,  born  in 
freedom.  Her  father's  sword  has  been  embrued  to  the 
hilt  with  Anglo-Saxon  blood;  perhaps  that  of  Waltheoff 
and  Engelred  has  added  depth  to  the  stain.  She  has  been, 
besides,  a  presumptuous  fool,  usurping  for  herself  the 
trophies  and  warlike  character  which  belong  to  the  other 
sex.  Lastly,  it  will  be  hard  to  find  a  champion  to  fight  in 
her  stead,  since  all  the  crusaders  have  passed  over  to 
Asia,  which  is  the  land,  they  say,  in  which  they  have 
come  to  war;  and  by  orders  of  the  Emperor  no  means  of 
return  to  the  hither  shore  will  be  permitted  to  any  of 
them.' 

'Alas  —  alas!'  said  Bertha,  'how  does  this  world 
change  us!  The  son  of  Waltheoff  I  once  knew  brave, 
ready  to  assist  distress,  bold  and  generous.  Such  was 
what  I  pictured  him  to  myself  during  his  absence.  I  have 
met  him  again,  and  he  is  calculating,  cold,  and  selfish.' 

362 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'Hush,  damsel,'  said  the  Varangian,  'and  know  him  of 
whom  thou  speakest  ere  thou  judgest  him.  The  Count- 
ess of  Paris  is  such  as  I  have  said;  yet  let  her  appear 
boldly  in  the  lists,  and  when  the  trumpet  shall  sound 
thrice  another  shall  reply,  which  shall  announce  the 
arrival  of  her  own  noble  lord  to  do  battle  in  her  stead;  or, 
should  he  fail  to  appear,  I  will  requite  her  kindness  to 
thee,  Bertha,  and  be  ready  in  his  place.' 

*Wilt  thou?  —  wilt  thou  indeed?'  said  the  damsel. 
*  That  was  spoken  like  the  son  of  Waltheoff  —  like  the 
genuine  stock.  I  will  home  and  comfort  my  mistress;  for 
surely  if  the  judgment  of  God  ever  directed  the  issue  of  a 
judicial  combat,  its  influence  will  descend  upon  this.  But 
you  hint  that  the  Count  is  here  —  that  he  is  at  liberty; 
she  will  inquire  about  that,' 

'She  must  be  satisfied,'  replied  Hereward,  'to  know 
that  her  husband  is  under  the  guidance  of  a  friend  who 
will  endeavour  to  protect  him  from  his  own  extrava- 
gancies and  follies;  or,  at  all  events,  of  one  who,  if  he  can- 
not properly  be  called  a  friend,  has  certainly  not  acted, 
and  will  not  act,  towards  him  the  part  of  an  enemy.  And 
now,  farewell,  long  lost — long  loved — !'  Before  he  could 
say  more,  the  Saxon  maiden,  after  two  or  three  vain 
attempts  to  express  her  gratitude,  threw  herself  into  her 
lover's  arms,  and,  despite  the  coyness  which  she  had 
recently  shown,  impressed  upon  his  lips  the  thanks 
which  she  could  not  speak. 

They  parted,  Bertha  returning  to  her  mistress  at  the 
lodge,  which  she  had  left  both  with  trouble  and  danger, 
and  Hereward  by  the  portal  kept  by  the  negro-portress, 
who,  complimenting  the  handsome  Varangian  on  his 
success  among  the  fair,  intimated  that  she  had  been  in 

363 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

some  sort  a  witness  of  his  meeting  with  the  Saxon  dam- 
sel. A  piece  of  gold,  part  of  a  late  largesse,  amply  served 
to  bribe  her  tongue;  and  the  soldier,  clear  of  the  gardens 
of  the  philosopher,  sped  back  as  he  might  to  the  barrack, 
judging  that  it  was  full  time  to  carry  some  supply  to 
Coimt  Robert,  who  had  been  left  without  food  the 
whole  day. 

It  is  a  common  popular  saying  that,  as  the  sensation  of 
hunger  is  not  connected  with  any  pleasing  or  gentle  emo- 
tion, so  it  is  particularly  remarkable  for  irritating  those 
of  anger  and  spleen.  It  is  not,  therefore,  very  surprising 
that  Count  Robert,  who  had  been  so  unusually  long 
without  sustenance,  should  receive  Hereward  with  a  de- 
gree of  impatience  beyond  what  the  occasion  merited, 
and  injurious  certainly  to  the  honest  Varangian,  who 
had  repeatedly  exposed  his  life  that  day  for  the  interest 
of  the  Countess  and  the  Count  himself. 

*Soh,  sir!'  he  said,  in  that  accent  of  affected  restraint 
by  which  a  superior  modifies  his  displeasure  against  his 
inferior  into  a  cold  and  scornful  expression,  'you  have 
played  a  Uberal  host  to  us!  Not  that  it  is  of  conse- 
quence; but  methinks  a  count  of  the  most  Christian 
kingdom  dines  not  every  day  with  a  mercenary  soldier, 
and  might  expect,  if  not  the  ostentatious,  at  least  the 
needful,  part  of  hospitality.' 

'And  methinks,'  repHed  the  Varangian,  '0  most 
Christian  Count,  that  such  of  your  high  rank  as,  by 
choice  or  fate,  become  the  guests  of  such  as  I  may  think 
themselves  pleased,  and  blame  not  their  host's  niggard- 
liness, but  the  difficulty  of  his  circumstances,  if  dinner 
should  not  present  itself  oftener  than  once  in  four-and- 
twenty  hours.'  So  saying,  he  clapt  his  hands  together, 

364 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  his  domestic  Edric  entered.  His  guest  looked  aston- 
ished at  the  entrance  of  this  third  party  into  their  retire- 
ment. *I  will  answer  for  this  man,'  said  Hereward,  and 
addressed  him  in  the  following  words : '  What  food  hast 
thou,  Edric,  to  place  before  the  honourable  Count?' 

*  Nothing  but  the  cold  pasty,'  replied  the  attendant, 
'marvellously  damaged  by  your  honour's  encounter  at 
breakfast.' 

The  military  domestic,  as  intimated,  brought  forward 
a  large  pasty,  but  which  had  already  that  morning  sus- 
tained a  furious  attack,  insomuch  that  Count  Robert  of 
Paris,  who,  like  all  noble  Normans,  was  somewhat  nice 
and  delicate  in  his  eating,  was  in  some  doubt  whether 
his  scrupulousness  should  not  prevail  over  his  hunger; 
but,  on  looking  more  closely,  sight,  smell,  and  a  fast  of 
twenty  hours  joined  to  convince  him  that  the  pasty  was 
an  excellent  one,  and  that  the  charger  on  which  it  was 
presented  possessed  corners  yet  untouched.  At  length, 
having  suppressed  his  scruples  and  made  bold  inroad 
upon  the  remains  of  the  dish,  he  paused  to  partake  of  a 
flask  of  strong  red  wine  which  stood  invitingly  beside 
him,  and  a  lusty  draught  increased  the  good-humour 
which  had  begun  to  take  place  towards  Hereward,  in  ex- 
change for  the  displeasure  with  which  he  had  received 
him. 

*Now,  by  Heaven!'  he  said,  *I  myself  ought  to  be 
ashamed  to  lack  the  courtesy  which  I  recommend  to 
others.  Here  have  I,  with  the  manners  of  a  Flemish 
boor,  been  devouring  the  provisions  of  my  gallant  host, 
without  even  asking  him  to  sit  down  at  his  own  table 
and  to  partake  of  his  own  good  cheer ! ' 

*I  will  not  strain  courtesies  with  you  for  that,'  said 

365 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Hereward;  and,  thrusting  his  hand  into  the  pasty,  he 
proceeded  with  great  speed  and  dexterity  to  devour  the 
miscellaneous  contents,  a  handful  of  which  was  inclosed 
in  his  grasp.  The  Count  now  withdrew  from  the  table, 
partly  in  disgust  at  the  rustic  proceedings  of  Hereward, 
who,  however,  by  now  calling  Edric  to  join  him  in  his 
attack  upon  the  pasty,  showed  that  he  had,  in  fact,  ac- 
cording to  his  manners,  subjected  himself  previously  to 
some  observance  of  respect  towards  his  guest,  while  the 
assistance  of  his  attendant  enabled  him  to  make  a  clear 
caccahulum  of  what  was  left.  Count  Robert  at  length 
summoned  up  courage  sufl6cient  to  put  a  question  which 
had  been  trembling  upon  his  lips  ever  since  Hereward 
had  returned. 

'Have  thine  inquiries,  my  gallant  friend,  learned  more 
concerning  my  unfortunate  wife,  my  faithful  Bren- 
hilda?' 

'Tidings  I  have,'  said  the  Anglo-Saxon,  'but  whether 
pleasing  or  not,  yourself  must  be  the  judge.  This  much 
I  have  learned:  she  hath,  as  you  know,  come  under  an 
engagement  to  meet  the  Caesar  in  arms  in  the  hsts,  but 
under  conditions  which  you  may  perhaps  think  strange ; 
these,  however,  she  hath  entertained  without  scruple.' 

'Let  me  know  these  terms,'  said  the  Count  of  Paris; 
*they  will,  I  think,  appear  less  strange  in  my  eyes  than  in 
thine.'  But  while  he  affected  to  speak  with  the  utmost 
coolness,  the  husband's  sparkUng  eye  and  crimsoned 
cheek  betrayed  the  alteration  which  had  taken  place  in 
his  feelings. 

'The  lady  and  the  Caesar,'  said  Hereward,  'as  you 
partly  heard  yourself,  are  to  meet  in  fight;  if  the  Count- 
ess wins,  of  course  she  remains  the  wife  of  the  noble 

366 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Count  of  Paris;  if  she  loses,  she  becomes  the  paramour 
of  the  Caesar  Nicephorus  Briennius.' 

'Saints  and  angels  forbid!'  said  Count  Robert;  'were 
they  to  permit  such  treason  to  triumph,  we  might  be 
pardoned  for  doubting  their  divinity.' 

'Yet  methinks,'  said  the  Anglo-Saxon,  'it  were  no  dis- 
graceful precaution  that  both  you  and  I,  with  other 
riends,  if  we  can  obtain  such,  should  be  seen  under 
shield  in  the  lists  on  the  morning  of  the  conflict.  To  tri- 
umph or  to  be  defeated  is  in  the  hand  of  fate ;  but  what 
we  cannot  fail  to  witness  is,  whether  or  not  the  lady  re- 
ceives that  fair-play  which  is  the  due  of  an  honourable 
combatant,  and  which,  as  you  have  yourself  seen,  can  be 
sometimes  basely  transgressed  in  this  Grecian  empire.' 

'On  that  condition,'  said  the  Count,  'and  protesting 
that  not  even  the  extreme  danger  of  my  lady  shall  make 
me  break  through  the  rule  of  a  fair  fight,  I  will  surely 
attend  the  lists,  if  thou,  brave  Saxon,  canst  find  me  any 
means  of  doing  so.  Yet  stay,'  he  continued,  after  reflect- 
ing for  a  moment,  'thou  shalt  promise  not  to  let  her 
know  that  her  count  is  on  the  field,  far  less  to  point  him 
out  to  her  eye  among  the  press  of  warriors.  O,  thou  dost 
not  know  that  the  sight  of  the  beloved  will  sometimes 
steal  from  us  our  courage,  even  when  it  has  most  to 
achieve ! ' 

'We  will  endeavour,'  said  the  Varangian,  'to  arrange 
matters  according  to  thy  pleasure,  so  that  thou  findest 
out  no  more  fantastical  difficulties;  for,  by  my  word,  an 
afl'air  so  compUcated  in  itself  requires  not  to  be  confused 
by  the  fine-spun  whims  of  thy  national  gallantry.  Mean- 
time, much  must  be  done  this  night;  and  while  I  go  about 
it,  thou,  sir  knight,  hadst  best  remain  here,  with  such  dis- 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

guise  of  garments  and  such  food  as  Edric  may  be  able 
to  procure  for  thee.  Fear  nothing  from  intrusion  on 
the  part  of  thy  neighbours.  We  Varangians  respect 
each  other's  secrets,  of  whatever  nature  they  may 
chance  to  be.' 


CHAPTER  XXI 

But  for  our  tmsty  brother-in-law  and  the  abbot, 
With  all  the  rest  of  that  consorted  crew,  — 
Destruction  straight  shall  dog  them  at  the  heels. 
Good  uncle,  help  to  order  several  powers 
To  Oxford,  or  where'er  these  traitors  are. 
They  shall  not  live  within  this  world,  I  swear. 

Richard  II. 

As  Hereward  spoke  the  last  words  narrated  in  the  fore- 
going chapter,  he  left  the  Count  in  his  apartment,  and 
proceeded  to  the  Blacquernal  Palace.  We  traced  his  first 
entrance  into  the  court,  but  since  then  he  had  frequently 
been  summoned,  not  only  by  order  of  the  Princess  Anna 
Comnena,  who  delighted  in  asking  him  questions  con- 
cerning the  customs  of  his  native  country,  and  marking 
down  the  replies  in  her  own  inflated  language,  but  also 
by  the  direct  command  of  the  Emperor  himself,  who  had 
the  humour  of  many  princes,  that  of  desiring  to  obtain 
direct  information  from  persons  in  a  very  inferior  station 
in  their  court.  The  ring  which  the  Princess  had  given 
to  the  Varangian  served  as  a  pass-token  more  than  once, 
and  was  now  so  generally  known  by  the  slaves  of  the 
palace,  that  Hereward  had  only  to  slip  it  into  the  hand 
of  a  principal  person  among  them,  and  was  introduced 
into  a  small  chamber,  not  distant  from  the  saloon 
already  mentioned,  dedicated  to  the  Muses.  In  this 
small  apartment,  the  Emperor,  his  spouse  Irene,  and 
their  accomplished  daughter  Anna  Comnena  were 
seated  together,  clad  in  very  ordinary  apparel,  as  in- 
deed the  furniture  of  the  room  itself  was  of  the  kind 
43  369 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Used  by  respectable  citizens,  saving  that  mattrasses, 
composed  of  eider-down,  hung  before  each  door  to 
^irevent  the  risk  of  eavesdropping. 

'Our  trusty  Varangian,'  said  the  Empress. 

'  My  guide  and  tutor  respecting  the  manners  of  those 
steel-clad  men,'  said  the  Princess  Anna  Comnena,  'of 
whom  it  is  so  necessary  that  I  should  form  an  accurate 
idea.' 

'Your  Imperial  Majesty,'  said  the  Empress,  'will  not, 
I  trust,  think  your  consort  and  your  muse-inspired 
daughter  are  too  many  to  share  with  you  the  intelligence 
brought  by  this  brave  and  loyal  man? ' 

'Dearest  wife  and  daughter,'  returned  the  Emperor, 
'I  have  hitherto  spared  you  the  burden  of  a  painful 
secret,  which  I  have  locked  in  my  own  bosom,  at  what- 
ever expense  of  solitary  sorrow  and  unimparted  anxiety. 
Noble  daughter,  you  in  particular  will  feel  this  calamity, 
learning,  as  you  must  learn,  to  think  odiously  of  one 
of  whom  it  has  hitherto  been  your  duty  to  hold  a  very 
different  opinion.' 

'Holy  Mary!'  exclaimed  the  Princess. 

'  Rally  yourself,'  said  the  Emperor ; '  remember  you  are 
a  child  of  the  purple  chamber,  born  not  to  weep  for  your 
father's  wrongs,  but  to  avenge  them;  not  to  regard  even 
him  who  has  lain  by  your  side  as  half  so  important  as 
the  sacred  imperial  grandeur,  of  which  you  are  yourself 
a  partaker.' 

'What  can  such  words  preface?'  said  Anna  Comnena, 
in  great  agitation. 

'They  say,'  answered  the  Emperor,  'that  the  Caesar 
is  an  ungrateful  man  to  all  my  bounties,  and  even  to  that 
which  annexed  him  to  my  own  house,  and  made  him  by 

370 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

adoption  my  own  son.  He  hath  consorted  himself  with  a 
knot  of  traitors,  whose  very  names  are  enough  to  raise  the 
foul  fiend,  as  if  to  snatch  his  assured  prey.' 

'  Could  Nicephorus  do  this? '  said  the  astonished  and 
forlorn  Princess  —  '  Nicephorus,  who  has  so  often  called 
my  eyes  the  lights  by  which  he  steered  his  path?  Could 
he  do  this  to  my  father,  to  whose  exploits  he  has  listened 
hour  after  hour,  protesting  that  he  knew  not  whether  it 
was  the  beauty  of  the  language  or  the  heroism  of  the  ac- 
tion which  most  enchanted  him?  Thinking  with  the 
same  thought,  seeing  with  the  same  eye,  loving  with  the 
same  heart  —  O,  my  father!  it  is  impossible  that  he 
could  be  so  false.  Think  of  the  neighhouring  temple  of 
the  Muses.' 

'And  if  I  did,'  murmured  Alexius  in  his  heart,  *I 
should  think  of  the  only  apology  which  could  be  pro- 
posed for  the  traitor.  A  Httle  is  well  enough,  but  the  full 
soul  loathe th  the  honeycomb.'  Then  speaking  aloud, 
*My  daughter,'  he  said,  'be  comforted.  We  ourselves 
were  unwilling  to  believe  the  shameful  truth;  but  our 
guards  have  been  debauched;  their  commander,  that 
ungrateful  Achilles  Tatius,  with  the  equal  traitor,  Age- 
lastes,  have  been  seduced  to  favour  our  imprisonment 
or  murder;  and,  alas  for  Greece!  in  the  very  moment 
when  she  required  the  fostering  care  of  a  parent,  she 
was  to  be  deprived  of  him  by  a  sudden  and  merciless 
blow.' 

Here  the  Emperor  wept,  whether  for  the  loss  to  be 
sustained  by  his  subjects  or  of  his  own  Hfe  it  is  hard  to 
say. 

'Methinks,'  said  Irene,  'your  Imperial  Highness  is 
slow  in  taking  measures  against  the  danger.' 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'  Under  your  gracious  permission,  mother,'  answered 
the  Princess, '  I  would  rather  say  he  was  hasty  in  giving 
belief  to  it.  Methinks  the  evidence  of  a  Varangian, 
granting  him  to  be  ever  so  stout  a  man-at-arms,  is  but  a 
frail  guarantee  against  the  honour  of  your  son-in-law, 
the  approved  bravery  and  fidelity  of  the  captain  of  your 
guards,  the  deep  sense,  virtue,  and  profound  wisdom  of 
the  greatest  of  your  philosophers  — ' 

'And  the  conceit  of  an  over-educated  daughter,'  said 
the  Emperor,  'who  will  not  allow  her  parent  to  judge  in 
what  most  concerns  him.  I  will  tell  thee,  Anna,  I  know 
every  one  of  them,  and  the  trust  which  may  be  reposed 
in  them :  the  honour  of  your  Nicephorus,  the  bravery  and 
fidelity  of  the  Acolyte,  and  the  virtue  and  wisdom  of 
Agelastes  —  have  I  not  had  them  all  in  my  purse?  And 
had  my  purse  continued  well  filled,  and  my  arm  strong  as 
it  was  of  late,  there  they  would  have  still  remained.  But 
the  butterflies  went  off  as  the  weather  became  cold,  and 
I  must  meet  the  tempest  without  their  assistance.  You 
talk  of  want  of  proof?  I  have  proof  sufficient  when  I  see 
danger:  this  honest  soldier  brought  me  indications  which 
corresponded  with  my  own  private  remarks,  made  on 
purpose.  Varangian  he  shall  be  of  Varangians;  Acolyte 
he  shall  be  named,  in  place  of  the  present  traitor;  and 
who  knows  what  may  come  thereafter? ' 

'May  it  please  your  Highness,'  said  the  Varangian, 
who  had  been  hitherto  silent,  '  many  men  in  this  empire 
rise  to  dignity  by  the  fall  of  their  original  patrons,  but  it 
is  a  road  to  greatness  to  which  I  cannot  reconcile  my 
conscience;  moreover,  having  recovered  a  friend  from 
whom  I  was  long  ago  separated,  I  shall  require,  in  short 
space,  your  imperial  license  for  going  hence,  where  I 

372 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

shall  leave  thousands  of  enemies  behind  me,  and,  spend- 
ing my  life,  like  many  of  my  countrymen,  under  the 
banner  of  King  William  of  Scotland  — ' 

'Part  with  thee,  most  inimitable  man!'  cried  the  Em- 
peror, with  emphasis;  'where  shall  I  get  a  soldier  —  a 
champion  —  a  friend,  so  faithful? ' 

*  Noble  sir,'  replied  the  Anglo-Saxon.  *  I  am  every  way 
sensible  to  your  goodness  and  munificence;  but  let  me 
entreat  you  to  call  me  by  my  own  name,  and  to  prom- 
ise me  nothing  but  your  forgiveness  for  my  having  been 
the  agent  of  such  confusion  among  your  imperial  serv- 
ants. Not  only  is  the  threatened  fate  of  Achilles  Tatius, 
my  benefactor;  of  the  Caesar,  whom  I  think  my  well- 
wisher;  and  even  of  Agelastes  himself,  painful,  so  far 
as  it  is  of  my  bringing  round ;  but  also  I  have  known  it 
somehow  happen  that  those  on  whom  your  Imperial 
Majesty  has  lavished  the  most  valuable  expressions  of 
your  favour  one  day  were  the  next  day  food  to  fatten  the 
chough  and  crow.  And  this,  I  acknowledge,  is  a  purpose 
for  which  I  would  not  willingly  have  it  said  I  had  brought 
my  English  limbs  to  these  Grecian  shores.' 

'Call  thee  by  thine  own  name,  my  Edward,'  said  the 
Emperor  (while  he  muttered  aside,  '  By  Heaven,  I  have 
again  forgot  the  name  of  the  barbarian ! ')  —  'by  thine 
own  name  certainly  for  the  present,  but  only  until  we 
shall  devise  one  more  fitted  for  the  trust  we  repose  in 
thee.  Meantime,  look  at  this  scroll,  which  contains,  I 
think,  all  the  particulars  which  we  have  been  able  to 
learn  of  this  plot,  and  give  it  to  these  unbelieving  women, 
who  will  not  credit  that  an  emperor  is  in  danger  till  the 
blades  of  the  conspirators'  poniards  are  clashing  within 
his  ribs.' 

373 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Hereward  did  as  he  was  commanded,  and  having 
looked  at  the  scroll,  and  signified,  by  bending  his  head, 
his  acquiescence  in  its  contents,  he  presented  it  to  Irene, 
who  had  not  read  long  ere,  with  a  countenance  so  em- 
bittered that  she  had  difl&culty  in  pointing  out  the  cause 
of  her  displeasure  to  her  daughter,  she  bade  her,  with 
animation,  '  Read  that  —  read  that,  and  judge  of  the 
gratitude  and  affection  of  thy  Caesar.' 

The  Princess  Anna  Comnena  awoke  from  a  state  of 
profound  and  overpowering  melancholy,  and  looked  at 
the  passage  pointed  out  to  her,  at  first  with  an  air  of 
languid  curiosity,  which  presently  deepened  into  the 
most  intense  interest.  She  clutched  the  scroll  as  a  falcon 
does  his  prey,  her  eye  lightened  with  indignation;  and  it 
was  with  the  cry  of  the  bird  when  in  fury  that  she  ex- 
claimed, 'Bloody-minded,  double-hearted  traitor!  what 
wouldst  thou  have?  Yes,  father,'  she  said,  rising  in  fury, 
*  it  is  no  longer  the  voice  of  a  deceived  princess  that  shall 
intercede  to  avert  from  the  traitor  Nicephorus  the  doom 
he  has  deserved.  Did  he  think  that  one  born  in  the  pur- 
ple chamber  could  be  divorced  —  murdered  perhaps  — 
with  the  petty  formula  of  the  Romans,  "Restore  the 
keys,  be  no  longer  my  domestic  drudge  "?  ^  Was  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  blood  of  Comnenus  liable  to  such  insults  as  the 
meanest  of  Quirites  might  bestow  on  a  family  house- 
keeper? ' 

So  sa3H[ng,  she  dashed  the  tears  from  her  eyes,  and  her 
countenance,  naturally  that  of  beauty  and  gentleness, 
became  animated  with  the  expression  of  a  fury.  Here- 
ward looked  at  her  with  a  mixture  of  fear,  disHke,  and 
compassion.  She  again  burst  forth,  for  nature,  having 
^  The  laconic  form  of  the  Roman  divorce. 
374 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

given  her  considerable  abilities,  had  lent  her  at  the  same 
time  an  energy  of  passion  far  superior  in  power  to  the 
cold  ambition  of  Irene,  or  the  wily,  ambidexter,  shuffling 
policy  of  the  Emperor. 

'He  shall  abye  it,'  said  the  Princess  —  'he  shall 
dearly  abye  it!  False,  smiling,  cozening  traitor!  and 
for  that  unfeminine  barbarian!  Something  of  this 
I  guessed  even  at  that  old  fool's  banqueting-house ; 
and  yet  if  this  unworthy  Caesar  submits  his  body  to 
the  chance  of  arms,  he  is  less  prudent  than  I  have 
some  reason  to  believe.  Think  you  he  will  have  the 
madness  to  brand  us  with  such  open  neglect,  my 
father?  and  will  you  not  invent  some  mode  of  ensuring 
our  revenge? ' 

'Soh!'  thought  the  Emperor,  'this  difficulty  is  over: 
she  will  run  downhill  to  her  revenge,  and  will  need  the 
snaffle  and  curb  more  than  the  lash.  If  every  jealous 
dame  in  Constantinople  were  to  pursue  her  fury  as  un- 
relentingly, our  laws  should  be  written,  like  Draco's, 
not  in  ink,  but  in  blood.  Attend  to  me  now,'  he  said 
aloud,  '  my  wife,  my  daughter,  and  thou,  dear  Edward, 
and  you  shall  learn,  and  you  three  only,  my  mode 
of  navigating  the  vessel  of  the  state  through  these 
shoals.' 

'Let  us  see  distinctly,'  continued  Alexius,  'the  means 
by  which  they  propose  to  act,  and  these  shall  instruct 
us  how  to  meet  them.  A  certain  number  of  the  Varan- 
gians are  unhappily  seduced,  under  pretence  of  wrongs, 
artfully  stirred  up  by  their  villainous  general.  A  part 
of  them  are  studiously  to  be  arranged  nigh  our  person. 
The  traitor  Ursel,  some  of  them  suppose,  is  dead;  but  if 
it  were  so,  his  name  is  sufficient  to  draw  together  his  old 

375 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

factionaries.  I  have  a  means  of  satisfying  them  on  that 
point,  on  which  I  shall  remain  silent  for  the  present.  A 
considerable  body  of  the  Immortal  Guards  have  also 
given  way  to  seduction;  they  are  to  be  placed  to  sup- 
port the  handful  of  treacherous  Varangians,  who  are 
in  the  plot  to  attack  our  person.  Now,  a  slight  change 
in  the  stations  of  the  soldiery,  which  thou,  my  faithful 
Edward  —  or  —  a  —  a  —  whatever  thou  art  named  — 
for  which  thou,  I  say,  shalt  have  full  authority,  will  de- 
range the  plans  of  the  traitors,  and  place  the  true  men  in 
such  position  around  them  as  to  cut  them  to  pieces  with 
little  trouble.' 

'And  the  combat,  my  lord?'  said  the  Saxon. 

'Thou  hadst  been  no  true  Varangian  hadst  thou  not 
inquired  after  that,'  said  the  Emperor,  nodding  good- 
humouredly  towards  him.  'As  to  the  combat,  the  Caesar 
has  devised  it,  and  it  shall  be  my  care  that  he  shall  not 
retreat  from  the  dangerous  part  of  it.  He  cannot  in 
honour  avoid  fighting  with  this  woman,  strange  as  the 
combat  is;  and  however  it  ends,  the  conspiracy  will  break 
forth,  and  as  assuredly  as  it  comes  against  persons  pre- 
pared and  in  arms  shall  it  be  stifled  in  the  blood  of  the 
conspirators.* 

'My  revenge  does  not  require  this,'  said  the  Princess; 
'and  your  imperial  honour  is  also  interested  that  this 
countess  shall  be  protected.' 

'It  is  little  business  of  mine,'  said  the  Emperor.  'She 
comes  here  with  her  husband  altogether  iminvited.  He 
behaves  with  insolence  in  my  presence,  and  deserves 
whatever  may  be  the  issue  to  himself  or  his  lady  of  their 
mad  adventure.  In  sooth,  I  desired  little  more  than  to 
give  him  a  fright  with  those  animals  whom  their  igno- 

376 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

ranee  judged  enchanted,  and  to  give  his  wife  a  slight 
alarm  about  the  impetuosity  of  a  Grecian  lover,  and 
there  my  vengeance  should  have  ended.  But  it  may  be 
that  his  wife  may  be  taken  under  my  protection,  now 
that  little  revenge  is  over.' 

'And  a  paltry  revenge  it  was,'  said  the  Empress,  *  that 
you,  a  man  past  middle  life,  and  with  a  wife  who  might 
command  some  attention,  should  constitute  yourself 
the  object  of  alarm  to  such  a  handsome  man  as  Count 
Robert,  and  the  amazon  his  wife.' 

*  By  your  favour,  dame  Irene,  no,'  said  the  Emperor. 
*I  left  that  part  of  the  proposed  comedy  to  my  son-in- 
law  the  Caesar.' 

But  when  the  poor  emperor  had  in  some  measure 
stopt  one  floodgate,  he  effectually  opened  another,  and 
one  which  was  more  formidable.  'The  more  shame  to 
your  imperial  wisdom,  my  father!'  exclaimed  the  Prin- 
cess Anna  Comnena;  'it  is  a  shame  that,  with  wisdom 
and  a  beard  like  yours,  you  should  be  meddling  in  such 
indecent  follies  as  admit  disturbance  into  private  fam- 
ilies, and  that  family  your  own  daughter's.  Who  can 
say  that  the  Csesar  Nicephorus  Briennius  ever  looked 
astray  towards  another  woman  than  his  wife  till  the 
Emperor  taught  him  to  do  so,  and  involved  him  in  a  web 
of  intrigue  and  treachery,  in  which  he  has  endangered 
the  life  of  his  father-in-law? ' 

'Daughter  —  daughter  —  daughter!'  said  the  Em- 
press ; '  daughter  of  a  she-wolf,  I  think,  to  goad  her  parent 
at  such  an  unhappy  time,  when  all  the  leisure  he  has  is 
too  little  to  defend  his  life ! ' 

'Peace,  I  pray  you,  women  both,  with  your  senseless 
clamours,'  answered  Alexius,  'and  let  me  at  least  swim 

377 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

for  my  life  undisturbed  with  your  folly.  God  knows  if  I 
am  a  man  to  encourage,  I  will  not  say  the  reality  of 
wrong,  but  even  its  mere  appearance.' 

These  words  he  uttered,  crossing  himself,  with  a  de- 
vout groan.  His  wife  Irene,  in  the  meantime,  stept  be- 
fore him,  and  said,  with  a  bitterness  in  her  looks  and 
accent  which  only  long-concealed  nuptial  hatred  break- 
ing forth  at  once  could  convey  —  'Alexius,  terminate 
this  affair  how  it  will,  you  have  lived  a  hypocrite,  and 
thou  wilt  not  fail  to  die  one.'  So  saying,  with  an  air  of 
noble  indignation,  and  carrying  her  daughter  along  with 
her,  she  swept  out  of  the  apartment. 

The  Emperor  looked  after  her  in  some  confusion.  He 
soon,  however,  recovered  his  self-possession,  and  turn- 
ing to  Hereward,  with  a  look  of  injured  majesty,  said, 
*Ah!  my  dear  Edward'  —  for  the  word  had  become 
rooted  in  his  mind  instead  of  the  less  euphonic  name  of 
Hereward  —  '  thou  seest  how  it  is  even  with  the  greatest, 
and  that  the  Emperor,  in  moments  of  difficulty,  is  a  sub- 
ject of  misconstruction,  as  well  as  the  meanest  burgess 
of  Constantinople ;  nevertheless,  my  trust  is  so  great  in 
thee,  Edward,  that  I  would  have  thee  believe  that  my 
daughter,  Anna  Comnena,  is  not  of  the  temper  of  her 
mother,  but  rather  of  my  own;  honouring,  thou  mayst 
see,  with  religious  fidelity,  the  unworthy  ties  which  I 
hope  soon  to  break,  and  assort  her  with  other  fetters  of 
Cupid  which  shall  be  borne  more  lightly.  Edward,  my 
main  trust  is  in  thee.  Accident  presents  us  with  an  op- 
portunity, happy  of  the  happiest  so  it  be  rightly  im- 
proved, of  having  all  the  traitors  before  us  assembled 
on  one  fair  field.  Think,  then,  on  that  day,  as  the  Franks 
say  at  their  tournaments,  that  fair  eyes  behold  thee. 

378 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Thou  canst  not  devise  a  gift  within  my  power  but  I  will 
gladly  load  thee  with  it.' 

*It  needs  not/  said  the  Varangian,  somewhat  coldly: 
*my  highest  ambition  is  to  merit  the  epitaph  upon  my 
tomb,  "Hereward  was  faithful."  I  am  about,  however, 
to  demand  a  proof  of  your  imperial  confidence,  which, 
perhaps,  you  may  think  a  startling  one.' 

'Indeed!'  said  the  Emperor.  'What,  in  one  word,  is 
thy  demand? ' 

'Permission,'  replied  Hereward,  'to  go  to  the  Duke  of 
Bouillon's  encampment,  and  entreat  his  presence  in  the 
lists,  to  witness  this  extraordinary  combat.' 

'That  he  may  return  with  his  crusading  madmen,* 
said  the  Emperor,  '  and  sack  Constantinople,  under  pre- 
tence of  doing  justice  to  his  confederates?  This,  Varan- 
gian, is  at  least  speaking  thy  mind  openly.' 

'No,  by  Heavens!'  said  Hereward,  suddenly;  'the 
Duke  of  Bouillon  shall  come  with  no  more  knights  than 
may  be  a  reasonable  guard,  should  treachery  be  offered 
to  the  Countess  of  Paris.' 

'Well,  even  in  this,'  said  the  Emperor,  'will  I  be  con- 
formable; and  if  thou,  Edward,  betrayest  my  trust, 
think  that  thou  forfeitest  all  that  my  friendship  has 
promised,  and  dost  incur,  besides,  the  damnation  that  is 
due  to  the  traitor  who  betrays  with  a  kiss.' 

'  For  thy  reward,  noble  sir,'  answered  the  Varangian, 
*  I  hereby  renounce  all  claim  to  it.  When  the  diadem  is 
once  more  firmly  fixed  upon  thy  brow,  and  the  sceptre 
in  thy  hand,  if  I  am  then  alive,  if  my  poor  services  should 
deserve  so  much,  I  will  petition  thee  for  the  means  of 
leaving  this  court,  and  returning  to  the  distant  island  in 
which  I  was  born.  Meanwhile,  think  me  not  unfaithful, 

379 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

because  I  have  for  a  time  the  means  of  being  so  with 
effect.  Your  Imperial  Highness  shall  learn  that  Here- 
ward  is  as  true  as  is  your  right  hand  to  your  left.'  So  say- 
ing, he  took  his  leave  with  a  profound  obeisance. 

The  Emperor  gazed  after  him  with  a  countenance  in 
which  doubt  was  mingled  with  admiration. 

*I  have  trusted  him,'  he  said,  'with  all  he  asked,  and 
with  the  power  of  ruining  me  entirely,  if  such  be  his  pur- 
pose. He  has  but  to  breathe  a  whisper,  and  the  whole 
mad  crew  of  crusaders,  kept  in  humour  at  the  expense  of 
so  much  current  falsehood  and  so  much  more  gold,  will 
return  with  fire  and  sword  to  burn  down  Constantinople, 
and  sow  with  salt  the  place  where  it  stood.  I  have  done 
what  I  had  resolved  never  to  do :  I  have  ventured  king- 
dom and  life  on  the  faith  of  a  man  born  of  woman.  How 
often  have  I  said,  nay,  sworn,  that  I  would  not  hazard 
myself  on  such  peril,  and  yet,  step  by  step,  I  have  done 
so !  I  cannot  tell  —  there  is  in  that  man's  looks  and 
words  a  good  faith  which  overwhelms  me;  and,  what  is 
almost  incredible,  my  belief  in  him  has  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  his  showing  me  how  shght  my  power  was 
over  him.  I  threw,  Hke  the  wily  angler,  every  bait  I 
could  devise,  and  some  of  them  such  as  a  king  would 
scarcely  have  disdained.  To  none  of  these  would  he  rise; 
but  yet  he  gorges,  I  may  say,  the  bare  hook,  and  enters 
upon  my  service  without  a  shadow  of  self-interest.  Can 
this  be  double- distilled  treachery?  or  can  it  be  what 
men  call  disinterestedness?  If  I  thought  him  false,  the 
moment  is  not  yet  past:  he  has  not  yet  crossed  the 
bridge  —  he  has  not  passed  the  guards  of  the  palace,who 
have  no  hesitation  and  know  no  disobedience.  But  no; 
I  were  then  alone  in  the  land,  and  without  a  friend  or 

380 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

confidant.  I  hear  the  sound  of  the  outer  gate  unclose: 
the  sense  of  danger  certainly  renders  my  ears  more  acute 
than  usual.  It  shuts  again;  the  die  is  cast.  He  is  at  lib- 
erty; and  Alexius  Comnenus  must  stand  or  fall  accord- 
ing to  the  imcertain  faith  of  a  mercenary  Varangian.' 
He  clapt  his  hands;  a  slave  appeared,  of  whom  he  de- 
manded wine.  He  drank,  and  his  heart  was  cheered 
within  him.  *  I  am  decided,'  he  said,  'and  will  abide  with 
resolution  the  cast  of  the  throw,  for  good  or  for  evil.* 

So  saying,  he  retired  to  his  apartment,  and  was  not 
again  seen  during  that  night. 


NOTES  AND  GLOSSARY 


NOTES 

Note  i,  p.  7 

BoHEMOND,  son  of  Robert  Guiscard,  the  Norman  conqueror  of 
Apulia,  Calabria,  and  Sicily,  was,  at  the  time  when  the  first  cru- 
sade began,  Count  of  Tarentum.  Though  far  advanced  in  life,  he 
eagerly  joined  the  expedition  of  the  Latins,  and  became  Prince  of 
Antioch.  For  details  of  his  adventures,  death,  and  extraordinary 
character,  see  Gibbon,  chap.  LDC,  and  Mills's  History  of  the  Cru- 
sades, vol.  I. 

Note  2,  p.  11 

The  impression  which  the  imperial  city  was  calculated  to  make 
on  such  visitors  as  the  crusaders  of  the  West  is  given  by  the  an- 
cient French  chronicler  Villehardouin,  who  was  present  at  the 
capture  of  a.d.  1203:  — 

'When  we  had  come,'  he  says,  'within  three  leagues,  to  a  certain 
abbey,  then  we  could  plainly  survey  Constantinople.  There  the 
ships  and  the  galleys  came  to  anchor;  and  much  did  they  who  had 
never  been  in  that  quarter  before  gaze  upon  the  city.  That  such  a 
city  could  be  in  the  world  they  had  never  conceived,  and  they  were 
never  weary  of  staring  at  the  high  walls  and  towers  with  which  it 
was  entirely  encompassed,  the  rich  palaces  and  lofty  churches,  of 
which  there  were  so  many  that  no  one  could  have  believed  it,  if  he 
had  not  seen  with  his  own  eyes  that  city,  the  queen  of  all  cities. 
And  know  that  there  was  not  so  bold  a  heart  there,  that  it  did 
not  feel  some  terror  at  the  strength  of  Constantinople.'  —  Chap. 

LXVI. 

Again,  'And  now  many  of  those  of  the  host  went  to  see  Con- 
stantinople within,  and  the  rich  palaces  and  stately  churches  of 
which  it  possesses  so  many,  and  the  riches  of  the  place,  which  are 
such  as  no  other  city  ever  equalled.  I  need  not  speak  of  the 
sanctuaries,  which  are  as  many  as  are  in  all  the  world  beside.'  — 
Chap.  c. 

Note  3,  p.  18 

Ducange  has  poured  forth  a  tide  of  learning  on  this  curious  sub- 
ject, which  will  be  found  in  his  notes  on  Villehardouin's  Constanti- 

385 


NOTES 

nople  under  the  French  Emperors.  Paris,  1657,  folio,  p.  296.  Gib. 
bon's  History  may  also  be  consulted,  vol.  x,  p.  221.  Villehardouin, 
in  describing  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  a.d.  1203,  says,  'Li  murs; 
fu  mult  garnis  d'Anglois  et  de  Danois';  hence  the  dissertation  of 
Ducange  here  quoted,  and  several  articles  besides  in  his  Glossa- 
rium,  as  'Varangi,'  'Warengangi,'  etc.  The  etymology  of  the 
name  is  left  uncertain,  though  the  German /or/gawger,  i.e.  'forth- 
gocr,'  'wanderer,'  'exile,'  seems  the  most  probable.  The  term  oc- 
curs in  various  Italian  and  Sicilian  documents,  anterior  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Varangian  Guards  at  Constantinople,  and 
collected  by  Muratori:  as,  for  instance,  in  an  edict  of  one  of  the 
Lombard  kings  — 

'Omnes  Warengangi,  qui  deexteris  finibus  in  regni  nostrifini- 
bus  advenerint,  seque  sub  scuto  potestatis  nostrse  subdiderint, 
legibus  nostris  Longobardorum  vivere  debeant';  and  in  another, 
*De  Warengangis  nobilibus,  mediocribus,  et  rusticis  hominibus, 
qui  usque  nunc  in  terra  vestra  fugiti  sunt,  habeatis  eos.'  —  Mura- 
tori, vol.  II,  p.  261. 

With  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  Varangian  Guard,  the  most  dis- 
tinct testimony  is  that  of  Ordericus  Vitalis,  who  says:  — 

'When,  therefore,  the  English  had  lost  their  liberty,  they  turned 
themselves  with  zeal  to  discover  the  means  of  throwing  off  the  un- 
accustomed yoke.  Some  fled  to  Sueno,  King  of  the  Danes,  to  ex- 
cite him  to  the  recovery  of  the  inheritance  of  his  grandfather, 
Canute.  Not  a  few  fled  into  exile  in  other  regions,  either  from  the 
mere  desire  of  escaping  from  under  the  Norman  rule,  or  in  the  hope 
of  acquiring  wealth,  and  so  being  one  day  in  a  condition  to  renew 
the  struggle  at  home.  Some  of  these,  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  pen- 
etrated into  a  far  distant  land,  and  offered  themselves  to  the  mili- 
tary service  of  the  Constantinopolitan  Emperor  —  that  wise 
prince,  against  whom  Robert  Guiscard,  Duke  of  Apulia,  had  then 
raised  all  his  forces.  .  .  .  The  English  exiles  were  favourably 
received,  and  opposed  in  battle  to  the  Normans,  for  whose  encoun- 
ter the  Greeks  themselves  were  too  weak.  Alexius  began  to  build 
a  town  for  the  English,  a  little  above  Constantinople,  at  a  place 
called  Chevelot,  but  the  trouble  of  the  Normans  from  Sicily  still 
increasing,  he  soon  recalled  them  to  the  capital,  and  intrusted  the 
principal  palace  with  all  its  treasures  to  their  keeping.  This  was 
the  method  in  which  the  Saxon  English  found  their  way  to  Ionia, 
where  they  still  remain,  highly  valued  by  the  Emperor  and  the 
people.'  —  Book  iv.  p.  508. 

386 


NOTES 

Note  4,  p.  83 

The  'AOdvaroi,  or  Immortals,  of  the  army  of  Constantinople 
were  a  select  body,  so  named  in  imitation  of  the  ancient  Persians. 
They  were  first  embodied,  according  to  Ducange,  by  Michael 
Ducas. 

Note  5,  p.  108 

Ducange  pours  out  a  whole  ocean  of  authorities  to  show  that  the 
king  of  France  was  in  those  days  styled  rex,  by  way  of  eminence. 
See  his  notes  on  The  Alexiad.  Anna  Comnena  in  her  history  makes 
Hugh  of  Vermandois  assume  to  himself  the  titles  which  could 
only,  in  the  most  enthusiastic  Frenchman's  opinion,  have  been 
claimed  by  his  elder  brother,  the  reigning  monarch. 


Note  6,  p.  171 

Ducange  fills  half  a  column  of  his  huge  page  with  the  mere 
names  of  the  authors  who  have  written  at  length  on  the  Labarum, 
or  principal  standard  of  the  empire  for  the  time  of  Constantine. 
It  consisted  of  a  spear  of  silver,  or  plated  with  that  metal,  having 
suspended  from  a  cross  beam  below  the  spoke  a  small  square 
silken  banner,  adorned  with  portraits  of  the  reigning  family,  and 
over  these  the  famous  monogram  which  expresses  at  once  the 
figure  of  the  cross  and  the  initial  letters  of  the  name  of  Christ. 
The  bearer  of  the  Labarum  was  an  officer  of  high  rank  down  to 
the  last  days  of  the  Byzantine  government.  —  See  Gibbon,  chap. 

XX. 

Ducange  seems  to  have  proved,  from  the  evidence  of  coins  and 
triumphal  monuments,  that  a  standard  of  the  form  of  the  Laba- 
rum was  used  by  various  barbarous  nations  long  before  it  was 
adopted  by  their  Roman  conquerors,  and  he  is  of  opinion  that 
its  name  also  was  borrowed  from  either  Teutonic  Germany,  or 
Celtic  Gaul,  or  Sclavonic  Illyria.  It  is  certain  that  either  the 
German  language  or  the  Welsh  may  afford  at  this  day  a  perfectly 
satisfactory  etymon,  lapheer  in  the  former,  and  lahhair  in  the 
latter,  having  precisely  the  same  meaning  —  'the  cloth  of  the 
host.' 

The  form  of  the  Labarum  may  still  be  recognised  in  the  banners 
carried  in  ecclesiastical  processions,  in  all  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
tries. 

387 


NOTES 

Note  7,  p.  185 

This  amazon  makes  a  conspicuous  figure  in  Anna  Comnena's 
account  of  her  father's  campaigns  against  Robert  Guiscard.  On 
one  occasion  (Alexiad,  lib.  iv.  p.  93),  she  represents  her  as  thus  re- 
calHng  the  fugitive  soldiery  of  her  husband  to  their  duty  —  'H  Se 
yc  FatTa  .  .  .  IlaXXa?  aWrj,  Kav  /jlt)  'AOijvrj  .  .  .  Kar^  auruii/ 
fxeyi(TTr)v  d<f>L€L<Ta  (fioii'rjv,  fxovovov  to  'Ofj.r]pLKOv  tiro's  rrj  ISia  8ta- 
Ae/cTw  Ae'yetv  iwKCL '  fi^XP'-  ''"oo'ou  (fiev$€(T6e ;  OTrJTe,  dvcpes  €<TTe.' 
(1)5  8k  eTL  (f)€vyovTa<:  toutous  kiapa,  86pv  fiaKpov  ivayKaXiaafxeur], 
0A.0VS  pvTTJpa^  iv8ov(ra  Kara  rOiv  (favyovrtav  itrai.  —  That  is,  ex- 
horting them,  in  all  but  Homeric  language,  at  the  top  of  her  voice; 
and  when  this  failed,  brandishing  a  long  spear,  and  rushing  upon 
the  fugitives  at  the  utmost  speed  of  her  horse.  This  heroic  lady, 
according  to  the  chronique  scandaleuse  of  those  days,  was  after- 
wards deluded  by  some  cunning  overtures  of  the  Greek  Emperor, 
and  poisoned  her  husband  in  expectation  of  gaining  a  place  on 
the  throne  of  Constantinople.  Ducange,  however,  rejects  the 
story,  and  so  does  Gibbon. 

Note  8,  p.  242 

Raymond  Count  of  Toulouse  and  St.  Giles,  Duke  of  Carboune, 
and  Marquis  of  Provence,  an  aged  warrior  who  had  won  high  dis- 
tinction in  the  contests  against  the  Saracens  in  Spain,  was  the 
chief  leader  of  the  crusaders  from  the  South  of  France.  His  title 
of  St.  Giles  is  corrupted  by  Anna  Comnena  into  Sangeles,  by 
which  name  she  constantly  mentions  him  in  The  Alexiad. 


GLOSSARY 


a',  all. 

aboot,  about. 

abye,  pay  for,  atone  for. 

afore,  before. 

ane,  one. 

arblast,  a  cross-bow. 

annipotent,  mighty  in  arms,  —  an 

epithet  of  Mars,  the  Roman  god  of 

war. 
astucious,  astute,  crafty, 
attaint,  a  successful  stroke. 
auld,  old. 

barret-cap,  a  military  cap. 

besant,  a  gold  coin  worth  at  different 

periods  from  105.  to  20 j. 
bide,  await. 
brunt,  an  assault,  an  onset. 

caccabulum,  a  clean  dish. 
cutty-pipe,  a  short  tobacco  pipe. 

daidling,  dawdling,  sauntering. 
Dan,  a  title  of  familiarity  used  by 

some  old  English  writers, 
didna,  did  not. 
doited,  stupid. 
drinchael,  drink  health, 
duello,  a  duel. 

en  brut,  in  the  rough,  unpolished, 
eremite,  a  hermit. 

etymon,  the  root  or  original  form  of  a 
word. 

faitour,  an  evil-doer. 

fleurs-de-lis  semees,  scattered  lilies, 
—  a  heraldic  term. 

four  hours,  a  light  repast  taken  be- 
tween dinner  and  supper,  generally 
at  four  o'clock. 

franklin,  a  yeoman  or  small  land- 
owner. 


gaed,  went. 

gaitling,  an  infant  or  child, 
gambaud,  a  leap  or  spring, 
gossipred,  intimate  acquaintance. 

jackanapes,  an  ape,  a  monkey, 
jerkin,  a  close-fitting  jacket. 

ken,  know. 

kiosk,  a  Turkish  pavilion  or  summer- 
house. 

kittle,  difficult. 

kittle  turn,  a  hard  sentence,  a  diffi- 
culty. 

lave,  the  remainder,  the  rest, 
lelies,  the  shout  of  the  Arabs  when 

making  an  onset. 
leman,  a  courtesan,  a  mistress. 

macaroni,  a  fop,  a  beau  of  the  eight- 
eenth century. 

maud,  a  shepherd's  grey  woollen 
plaid. 

muckle,  much. 

natheless,  nevertheless. 
Diddering,  worthless. 

obolus,  obol,  a  silver  or  bronze  coin  of 

ancient  Greece,  worth  about  i^d. 
oestrum,  frenzy,  torment. 

palestra,  an  arena  for  athletic  games, 
palmer,  a  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  Land, 
panhypersebastos,  the  all  supremely 

august. 
par  amours,  unlawfully,  illicitly, 
pajmim,  pagan,  heathen. 
periapt,  a  charm,  a  talisman. 
perpending,  weighing,  considering, 
pistrinum,  a  corn-mill. 
porphyrogenita,  born  in  the  purple, 

—  i.e.,  of  imperial  birth. 


389 


GLOSSARY 


prelection,  a  lecture, 
prerupt,  abrupt,  sudden. 
protospathaire,  the  First  Swordsman, 
puir,  poor. 

sae,  so. 

sair  lift,  a  sore  or  heavy  burden,  a 

task. 
schaw,  show,  indicate,  reveal. 
semee,  sown,  strewn. 
sequin,  a  gold  coin  worth  about  gs. 

6d. 
sewer,  the  officer  who  had  charge  of 

the  arrangements  of  the  table, 
skills,  avails,  matters. 
stummed,  unfermented. 


sylvan,  a  faun,  a  woodland  deity,  a 
creature  of  the  woods. 

theme,  a  province. 
thrall,  a  slave. 

vavasour,  a  vassal  of  intermediate 

rank. 
vilipend,  speak  of  with  scorn,  slander. 

wad,  would. 

waes  hael,  Kaisar  mirrig  und 
machtighl  Good  health  to  thee, 
stout  and  mighty  emperor! 

windlestraw,  a  stalk  of  grass,  a  lance. 

wot,  know. 


END  OF  VOLUME  I 


COUNT  ROBERT 
OF  PARIS 

AND 

THE  SURGEON'S 
DAUGHTER 

BY 

SIR  WALTER  SCOTT 

VOLUME  II 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN   COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1 913 
BY  HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 


TALES  OF  MY  LANDLORD 
iFourtIb  anH  last  Sterne 


The  European  with  the  Asian  shore  — 

Sophia's  cupola  with  golden  gleam  — 
The  cypress  groves  —  Olympus  high  and  hoar  — 

The  twelve  isles,  and  the  more  than  I  could  dream, 
Far  less  describe,  present  the  very  view 
That  charm'd  the  charming  Mary  Montagu. 

Don  Juan. 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

VOLUME  II 


Ahora  bien,  dijo  el  Cura:  traedme,  senor  huesped,  aquesos  libros,  que 
los  quiero  ver.  Que  me  place,  respondio  el;  y  entrando  en  su  aposenlo, 
saco  del  una  malelilla  vieja  cerrada  con  una  cadenilla,  y  abriendola,  halld 
en  ella  tres  libros  grandes  y  unos  papeles  de  tnuy  buena  letra  escritos  de 
mano.  —  Don  Quixote,  Parte  I,  Capitulo  32. 

It  is  mighty  well,  said  the  priest:  pray,  landlord,  bring  me  those 
books,  for  I  have  a  mind  to  see  them.  With  all  my  heart,  answered  the 
host;  and  going  to  his  chamber,  he  brought  out  a  little  old  cloke-bag, 
with  a  padlock  and  chain  to  it,  and  opening  it,  he  took  out  three  large 
volumes,  and  some  manuscript  papers  written  in  a  fine  character.  — ■ 
Jarvis's  Translation. 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 


CHAPTER  XXII 

And  aye,  as  if  for  death,  some  lonely  trumpet  peal'd. 

Caupbeu. 

The  Varangian,  his  head  agitated  with  the  weighty 
matters  which  were  imposed  on  him,  stopt  from  time 
to  time  as  he  journeyed  through  the  moonlight  streets, 
to  arrest  passing  ideas  as  they  shot  through  his  mind, 
and  consider  them  with  accuracy  in  all  their  bearings. 
His  thoughts  were  such  as  animated  or  alarmed  him 
alternately,  each  followed  by  a  confused  throng  of  ac- 
companiments which  it  suggested,  and  banished  again 
in  its  turn  by  reflections  of  another  description.  It  was 
one  of  those  conjunctures  when  the  minds  of  ordinary 
men  feel  themselves  unable  to  support  a  burden  which 
is  suddenly  flung  upon  them,  and  when,  on  the  contrary, 
those  of  uncommon  fortitude,  and  that  best  of  Heaven's 
gifts,  good  sense,  founded  on  presence  of  mind,  feel 
their  talents  awakened  and  regulated  for  the  occasion, 
like  a  good  steed  under  the  management  of  a  rider  of 
courage  and  experience. 

As  he  stood  in  one  of  those  fits  of  reverie  which  re- 
peatedly during  that  night  arrested  his  stern  military 
march,  Hereward  thought  that  his  ear  caught  the  note 
of  a  distant  trumpet.  This  surprised  him:  a  trumpet 
blown  at  that  late  hour,  and  in  the  streets  of  Constanti- 

44  I 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

nople,  argued  something  extraordinary;  for,  as  all  mili- 
tary movements  were  the  subject  of  special  ordinance, 
the  etiquette  of  the  night  could  hardly  have  been  trans- 
gressed without  some  great  cause.  The  question  was, 
what  that  cause  could  be? 

Had  the  insurrection  broken  out  unexpectedly,  and 
in  a  different  manner  from  what  the  conspirators  pro- 
posed to  themselves?  If  so,  his  meeting  with  his  plighted 
bride,  after  so  many  years'  absence,  was  but  a  delusive 
preface  to  their  separating  for  ever.  Or  had  the  cru- 
saders, a  race  of  men  upon  whose  motions  it  was  difficult 
to  calculate,  suddenly  taken  arms  and  returned  from 
the  opposite  shore  to  surprise  the  city?  This  might  very 
possibly  be  the  case;  so  numerous  had  been  the  different 
causes  of  complaint  afforded  to  the  crusaders,  that, 
when  they  were  now  for  the  first  time  assembled  into  one 
body,  and  had  heard  the  stories  which  they  could  recip- 
rocally tell  concerning  the  perfidy  of  the  Greeks,  nothing 
was  so  likely,  so  natural,  even  perhaps  so  justifiable,  as 
that  they  should  study  revenge. 

But  the  sound  rather  resembled  a  point  of  war  regu- 
larly blown  than  the  tumultuous  blare  of  bugle-horns 
and  trumpets,  the  accompaniments  at  once  and  the 
annunciation  of  a  taken  town,  in  which  the  horrid  cir- 
cumstances of  storm  had  not  yet  given  place  to  such 
stern  peace  as  the  victors'  weariness  of  slaughter  and 
rapine  allows  at  length  to  the  wretched  inhabitants. 
Whatever  it  was,  it  was  necessary  that  Hereward  should 
learn  its  purport,  and  therefore  he  made  his  way  into  a 
broad  street  near  the  barracks,  from  which  the  sound 
seemed  to  come,  to  which  point,  indeed,  his  way  was 
directed  for  other  reasons. 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

The  inhabitants  of  that  quarter  of  the  town  did  not 
appear  violently  startled  by  this  military  signal.  The 
moonlight  slept  on  the  street,  crossed  by  the  gigantic 
shadowy  towers  of  Sancta  Sophia.  No  human  being 
appeared  in  the  streets,  and  such  as  for  an  instant  looked 
from  their  doors  or  from  their  lattices  seemed  to  have 
their  curiosity  quickly  satisfied,  for  they  withdrew  their 
heads,  and  secured  the  opening  through  which  they  had 
peeped. 

Hereward  could  not  help  remembering  the  traditions 
which  were  recounted  by  the  fathers  of  his  tribe,  in  the 
deep  woods  of  Hampshire,  and  which  spoke  of  invisible 
huntsmen,  who  were  heard  to  follow  with  viewless 
horses  and  hounds  the  unseen  chase  through  the 
depths  of  the  forests  of  Germany.  Such  it  seemed 
were  the  sounds  with  which  these  haunted  woods  were 
wont  to  ring  while  the  wild  chase  was  up,  and  with 
such  apparent  terror  did  the  hearers  listen  to  their 
clamour. 

'  Fie ! '  he  said ,  as  he  suppressed  within  him  a  tendency 
to  the  same  superstitious  fears;  *do  such  childish  fancies 
belong  to  a  man  trusted  with  so  much,  and  from  whom 
so  much  is  expected?'  He  paced  down  the  street,  there- 
fore, with  his  battle-axe  over  his  shoulder,  and  the  first 
person  whom  he  saw  venturing  to  look  out  of  his  door  he 
questioned  concerning  the  cause  of  this  military  music 
at  such  an  unaccustomed  hour. 

*I  cannot  tell,  so  please  you,  my  lord,'  said  the 
citizen,  unwilling,  it  appeared,  to  remain  in  the  open  air 
or  to  enter  into  conversation,  and  greatly  disposed  to 
decline  further  questioning.  This  was  the  political 
citizen  of  Constantinople  whom  we  met  with  at  the 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

beginning  of  this  history,  and  who,  hastily  stepping  into 
his  habitation,  eschewed  all  further  conversation. 

The  wrestler  Stephanos  showed  himself  at  the  next 
door,  which  was  garlanded  with  oak  and  ivy  leaves,  in 
honour  of  some  recent  victory.  He  stood  unshrinking, 
partly  encouraged  by  the  consciousness  of  personal 
strength,  and  partly  by  a  rugged  sarliness  of  temper, 
which  is  often  mistaken  among  persons  of  this  kind  for 
real  courage.  His  admirer  and  flatterer,  Lysimachus, 
kept  himself  ensconced  behind  his  ample  shoulders. 

As  Hereward  passed,  he  put  the  same  question  as  he 
did  to  the  former  citizen  —  '  Know  you  the  meaning  of 
these  trumpets  sounding  so  late?' 

'You  should  know  best  yourself,*  answered  Stephanos, 
doggedly;  'for,  to  judge  by  your  axe  and  helmet,  they 
are  your  trumpets,  and  not  ours,  which  disturb  honest 
men  in  their  first  sleep,' 

'Varlet!'  answered  the  Varangian,  with  an  emphasis 
which  made  the  prizer  start;  'but  —  when  that  trumpet 
sounds,  it  is  no  time  for  a  soldier  to  punish  insolence  as 
it  deserves.' 

The  Greek  started  back  and  bolted  into  his  house, 
nearly  overthrowing  in  the  speed  of  his  retreat  the 
artist  Lysimachus,  who  was  listening  to  what  passed. 

Hereward  passed  on  to  the  barracks,  where  the  mili- 
tary music  had  seemed  to  halt;  but  on  the  Varangian 
crossing  the  threshold  of  the  ample  courtyard,  it  broke 
forth  again  with  a  tremendous  burst,  whose  clangour 
almost  stunned  him,  though  well  accustomed  to  the 
sounds.  'What  is  the  meaning  of  this,  Engelbrecht? '  he 
said  to  the  Varangian  sentinel,  who  paced  axe  in  hand 
before  the  entrance. 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'The  proclamation  of  a  challenge  and  combat,*  an- 
swered Engelbrecht.  '  Strange  things  toward,  comrade: 
the  frantic  crusaders  have  bit  the  Grecians,  and  in- 
fected them  with  their  humour  of  tilting,  as  they  say 
dogs  do  each  other  with  madness.' 

Hereward  made  no  reply  to  the  sentinel's  speech,  but 
pressed  forward  into  a  knot  of  his  fellow-soldiers  who 
were  assembled  in  the  court,  half-armed,  or,  more 
properly,  in  total  disarray,  as  just  arisen  from  their 
beds,  and  huddled  around  the  trumpets  of  their  corps, 
which  were  drawn  out  in  full  pomp.  He  of  the  gigantic 
instrument,  whose  duty  it  was  to  intimate  the  express 
commands  of  the  Emperor,  was  not  wanting  in  his 
place,  and  the  musicians  were  supported  by  a  band  of 
the  Varangians  in  arms,  headed  by  Achilles  Tatius  him- 
self. Hereward  could  also  notice  on  approaching  nearer, 
as  his  comrades  made  way  for  him,  that  six  of  the  im- 
perial heralds  were  on  duty  on  this  occasion;  four  of 
these  (two  acting  at  the  same  time)  had  already  made 
proclamation,  which  was  to  be  repeated  for  the  third 
time  by  the  two  last,  as  was  the  usual  fashion  in  Constan- 
tinople with  imperial  mandates  of  great  consequence. 
Achilles  Tatius,  the  moment  he  saw  his  confidant,  made 
him  a  sign,  which  Hereward  understood  as  conveying  a 
desire  to  speak  with  him  after  the  proclamation  was  over. 

The  herald,  after  the  flourish  of  trumpets  was  finished, 
commenced  in  these  words: 

'By  the  authority  of  the  resplendent  and  divine 
Prince  Alexius  Comnenus,  Emperor  of  the  most  holy 
Roman  Empire,  his  Imperial  Majesty  desires  it  to  be 
made  known  to  all  and  sundry  the  subjects  of  his  empire, 
whatever  their  race  of  blood  may  be,  or  at  whatever 

5 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

shrine  of  divinity  they  happen  to  bend  —  Know  ye, 
therefore,  that  upon  the  second  day  after  this  is  dated, 
our  beloved  son-in-law,  the  much-esteemed  Caesar,  hath 
taken  upon  him  to  do  battle  with  our  sworn  enemy, 
Robert  Count  of  Paris,  on  account  of  his  insolent  con- 
duct, by  presuming  publicly  to  occupy  our  royal  seat, 
and  no  less  by  breaking,  in  our  imperial  presence,  those 
curious  specimens  of  art,  ornamenting  our  throne,  called 
by  tradition  the  Lions  of  Solomon.  And  that  there  may 
not  remain  a  man  in  Europe  who  shall  dare  to  say  that 
the  Grecians  are  behind  other  parts  of  the  world  in  any 
of  the  manly  exercises  which  Christian  nations  use,  the 
said  noble  enemies,  renouncing  all  assistance  from 
falsehood,  from  spells,  or  from  magic,  shall  debate  this 
quarrel  in  three  courses  with  grinded  spears,  and  three 
passages  of  arms  with  sharpened  swords;  the  field  to  be 
at  the  judgment  of  the  honourable  Emperor,  and  to  be 
decided  at  his  most  gracious  and  unerring  pleasure.  And 
so  God  show  the  right!' 

Another  formidable  flourish  of  the  trumpets  concluded 
the  ceremony.  Achilles  then  dismissed  the  attendant 
troops,  as  well  as  the  heralds  and  musicians,  to  their 
respective  quarters;  and  having  got  Hereward  close  to 
his  side,  inquired  of  him  whether  he  had  learned  any- 
thing of  the  prisoner,  Robert  Count  of  Paris. 

'Nothing,'  said  the  Varangian,  'save  the  tidings  your 
proclamation  contains.' 

'You  think,  then,'  said  Achilles,  'that  the  Count  has 
been  a  party  to  it? ' 

'He  ought  to  have  been  so,'  answered  the  Varangian. 
'  1  know  no  one  but  himself  entitled  to  take  burden  for 
his  appearance  in  the  lists.' 

6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

■  *  Why,  look  you,'  said  the  Acolyte,  'my  most  excellent, 
though  blunt-witted,  Hereward,  this  Caesar  of  ours  hath 
had  the  extravagance  to  venture  his  tender  wit  in  com- 
parison to  that  of  Achilles  Tatius.  He  stands  upon  his 
honour  too,  this  ineffable  fool,  and  is  displeased  with  the 
idea  of  being  supposed  either  to  challenge  a  woman  or  to 
receive  a  challenge  at  her  hand.  He  has  substituted, 
therefore,  the  name  of  the  lord  instead  of  the  lady.  If  the 
Count  fail  to  appear,  the  Caesar  walks  forward  chal- 
lenger and  successful  combatant  at  a  cheap  rate,  since 
no  one  has  encountered  him,  and  claims  that  the  lady 
should  be  delivered  up  to  him  as  captive  of  his  dreaded 
bow  and  spear.  This  will  be  the  signal  for  a  general 
tumult,  in  which,  if  the  Emperor  be  not  slain  on  the  spot, 
he  will  be  conveyed  to  the  dungeon  of  his  own  Blac- 
quernal,  there  to  endure  the  doom  which  his  cruelty 
has  inflicted  upon  so  many  others.' 

'But —  '  said  the  Varangian. 

'But  —  but  —  but,'  said  his  officer  —  'but  thou  art  a 
fool.  Canst  thou  not  see  that  this  gallant  Caesar  is  willing 
to  avoid  the  risk  of  encountering  with  this  lady,  while 
he  earnestly  desires  to  be  supposed  willing  to  meet  her 
husband?  It  is  our  business  to  fix  the  combat  in  such  a 
shape  as  to  bring  all  who  are  prepared  for  insurrection 
together  in  arms  to  play  their  parts.  Do  thou  only  see 
that  our  trusty  friends  are  placed  near  to  the  Emperor's 
person,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  keep  from  him  the 
officious  and  meddling  portion  of  guards  who  may  be 
disposed  to  assist  him;  and  whether  the  Caesar  fights 
a  combat  with  lord  or  lady,  or  whether  there  be  any 
combat  at  all  or  not,  the  revolution  shall  be  accom- 
plished, and  the  Tatii  shall  replace  the  Comneni  upon 

7 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  imperial  throne  of  Constantinople.  Go,  my  trusty 
Hereward.  Thou  wilt  not  forget  that  the  signal  word 
of  the  insurrection  is  "Ursel,"  who  lives  in  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people,  although  his  body,  it  is  said, 
has  long  lain  a  corpse  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Blac- 
quernal.' 

'What  was  this  Ursel,'  said  Hereward,  'of  whom  I 
hear  men  talk  so  variously? ' 

*A  competitor  for  the  crown  with  Alexius  Comnenus 
—  good,  brave,  and  honest;  but  overpowered  by  the 
cunning,  rather  than  the  skill  or  bravery,  of  his  foe.  He 
died,  as  I  beheve,  in  the  Blacquernal;  though  when  or 
how  there  are  few  that  can  say.  But,  up  and  be  doing, 
my  Hereward !  Speak  encouragement  to  the  Varangians. 
Interest  whomsoever  thou  canst  to  join  us.  Of  the 
Immortals,  as  they  are  called,  and  of  the  discontented 
citizens,  enough  are  prepared  to  fill  up  the  cry,  and  fol- 
low in  the  wake  of  those  on  whom  we  must  rely  as  the 
beginners  of  the  enterprise.  No  longer  shall  Alexius's 
cunning  in  avoiding  popular  assemblies  avail  to  protect 
him:  he  cannot,  with  regard  to  his  honour,  avoid  being 
present  at  a  combat  to  be  fought  beneath  his  own  eye ; 
and  Mercury  be  praised  for  the  eloquence  which  inspired 
him,  after  some  hesitation,  to  determine  for  the  proc- 
lamation ! ' 

'You  have  seen  him,  then,  this  evening?'  said  the 
Varangian. 

'Seen  him!  Unquestionably,'  answered  the  Acolyte. 
'Had  I  ordered  these  trumpets  to  be  sounded  without 
his  knowledge,  the  blast  had  blown  the  head  from  my 
shoulders.' 

'  I  had  wellnigh  met  you  at  the  palace,'  said  Hereward, 

8 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

while  his  heart  throbbed  as  high  as  if  he  had  actually 
had  such  a  dangerous  encounter. 

'I  heard  something  of  it,'  said  Achilles  —  'that  you 
came  to  take  the  parting  orders  of  him  who  now  acts 
the  sovereign.  Surely,  had  I  seen  you  there,  with  that 
steadfast,  open,  seemingly  honest  countenance,  cheating 
the  wily  Greek  by  very  dint  of  bluntness,  I  had  not  for- 
borne laughing  at  the  contrast  between  that  and  the 
thoughts  of  thy  heart.' 

*God  alone,'  said  Hereward,  'knows  the  thoughts  of 
our  hearts;  but  I  take  Him  to  witness  that  I  am  faithful 
to  my  promise,  and  will  discharge  the  task  entrusted  to 
me.' 

'Bravo!  mine  honest  Anglo-Saxon,'  said  Achilles.  'I 
pray  thee  to  call  my  slaves  to  unarm  me;  and  when  thou 
thyself  doffest  those  weapons  of  an  ordinary  lifeguard's- 
man,  tell  them  they  never  shall  above  twice  more  inclose 
the  Umbs  of  one  for  whom  fate  has  much  more  fitting 
garments  in  store.' 

Hereward  dared  not  entrust  his  voice  with  an  answer 
to  so  critical  a  speech;  he  bowed  profoundly,  and  retired 
to  his  own  quarters  in  the  building. 

Upon  entering  the  apartment,  he  was  immediately 
saluted  by  the  voice  of  Count  Robert,  in  joyful  accents, 
not  suppressed  by  the  fear  of  making  himself  heard, 
though  prudence  should  have  made  that  uppermost  in 
his  mind. 

'Hast  thou  heard  it,  my  dear  Hereward,'  he  said  — 
'hast  thou  heard  the  proclamation,  by  which  this  Greek 
antelope  hath  defied  me  to  tilting  with  grinded  spears, 
and  fighting  three  passages  of  anns  with  sharpened 
swords?    Yet  there  is  something  strange,  too,  that  he 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

should  not  think  it  safer  to  hold  my  lady  to  the 
encounter?  He  may  think,  perhaps,  that  the  crusaders 
would  not  permit  such  a  battle  to  be  fought.  But,  by 
Our  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances!  he  little  knows  that  the 
men  of  the  West  hold  their  ladies'  character  for  courage 
as  jealously  as  they  do  their  own.  This  whole  night  have 
I  been  considering  in  what  armour  I  shall  clothe  me, 
what  shift  I  shall  make  for  a  steed,  and  whether  I  shall 
not  honour  him  sufficiently  by  using  Tranchefer,  as  my 
only  weapon,  against  his  whole  armour,  offensive  and 
defensive.' 

'  I  shall  take  care,  however,'  said  Hereward,  *  that  thou 
art  better  provided  in  case  of  need.  Thou  knowest  not 
the  Greeks.' 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

The  Varangian  did  not  leave  the  Count  of  Paris  until 
the  latter  had  placed  in  his  hands  his  signet-ring,  seme, 
as  the  heralds  express  it,  with  lances  spHntered,  and 
bearing  the  proud  motto,  'Mine  yet  unscathed.'  Pro- 
vided with  this  symbol  of  confidence,  it  was  now  his 
business  to  take  order  for  communicating  the  approach- 
ing solemnity  to  the  leader  of  the  crusading  army,  and 
demanding  for  him,  in  the  name  of  Robert  of  Paris  and 
the  Lady  Brenhilda,  such  a  detachment  of  Western 
cavaliers  as  might  ensure  strict  observance  of  honour 
and  honesty  in  the  arrangement  of  the  lists  and  during 
the  progress  of  the  combat.  The  duties  imposed  on 
Hereward  were  such  as  to  render  it  impossible  for 
him  to  proceed  personally  to  the  camp  of  Godfrey;  and 
though  there  were  many  of  the  Varangians  in  whose 
fidelity  he  could  have  trusted,  he  knew  of  none  among 
those  under  his  immediate  command  whose  intelligence, 
on  so  novel  an  occasion,  might  be  entirely  depended  on. 
In  this  perplexity  he  strolled,  perhaps  without  well 
knowing  why,  to  the  gardens  of  Agelastes,  where  fortune 
once  more  produced  him  an  interview  with  Bertha. 

No  sooner  had  Hereward  made  her  aware  of  his  diffi- 
culty than  the  faithful  bower-maiden's  resolution  was 
taken. 

'I  see,'  said  she,  'that  the  peril  of  this  part  of  the 
adventure  must  rest  with  me;  and  wherefore  should  it 
not?  My  mistress,  in  the  bosom  of  prosperity,  offered 

II 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

herself  to  go  forth  into  the  wide  world  for  my  sake; 
I  will  for  hers  go  to  the  camp  of  this  Frankish  lord. 
He  is  an  honourable  man  and  a  pious  Christian,  and 
his  followers  are  faithful  pilgrims.  A  woman  can  have 
nothing  to  fear  who  goes  to  such  men  upon  such  an 
errand.' 

The  Varangian,  however,  was  too  well  acquainted 
with  the  manners  of  camps  to  permit  the  fair  Bertha  to 
go  alone.  He  provided,  therefore,  for  her  safeguard  a 
trusty  old  soldier,  bound  to  his  person  by  long  kindness 
and  confidence;  and  having  thoroughly  possessed  her 
of  the  particulars  of  the  message  she  was  to  deliver,  and 
desired  her  to  be  in  readiness  without  the  inclosure  at 
peep  of  dawn,  returned  once  more  to  his  barracks. 

With  the  earUest  Hght,  Hereward  was  again  at  the 
spot  where  he  had  parted  overnight  with  Bertha,  accom- 
panied by  the  honest  soldier  to  whose  care  he  meant  to 
confide  her.  In  a  short  time,  he  had  seen  them  safely  on 
board  of  a  ferry-boat  lying  in  the  harbour,  the  master  of 
which  readily  admitted  them,  after  some  examination 
of  their  license,  to  pass  to  Scutari,  which  was  forged 
in  the  name  of  the  Acolyte,  as  authorised  by  that  foul 
conspirator,  and  which  agreed  with  the  appearance  of 
old  Osmund  and  his  young  charge. 

The  morning  was  lovely,  and  ere  long  the  town  of 
Scutari  opened  on  the  view  of  the  travellers,  glittering, 
as  now,  with  a  variety  of  architecture,  which,  though  it 
might  be  termed  fantastical,  could  not  be  denied  the 
praise  of  beauty.  These  buildings  rose  boldly  out  of  a 
thick  grove  of  cypresses  and  other  huge  trees,  the  larger, 
probably,  as  they  were  respected  for  filling  the  ceme- 
teries and  being  the  guardians  of  the  dead. 

12 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

At  the  period  we  mention,  another  circumstance,  no 
less  striking  than  beautiful,  rendered  doubly  interesting 
a  scene  which  must  have  been  at  all  times  greatly  so. 
A  large  portion  of  that  miscellaneous  army  which  came 
to  regain  the  holy  places  of  Palestine,  and  the  blessed 
Sepulchre  itself,  from  the  infidels,  had  established  them- 
selves in  a  camp  within  a  mile  or  thereabouts  of  Scutari. 
Although,  therefore,  the  crusaders  were  destitute  in  a 
great  measure  of  the  use  of  tents,  the  army  (excepting 
the  pavilions  of  some  leaders  of  high  rank)  had  con- 
structed for  themselves  temporary  huts,  not  unpleasing 
to  the  eye,  being  decorated  with  leaves  and  flowers, 
while  the  tall  pennons  and  banners  that  floated  over 
them  with  various  devices  showed  that  the  flower  of 
Europe  were  assembled  at  that  place.  A  loud  and  varied 
murmur,  resembling  that  of  a  thronged  hive,  floated 
from  the  camp  of  the  crusaders  to  the  neighbouring  town 
of  Scutari,  and  every  now  and  then  the  deep  tone  was 
broken  by  some  shriller  sound,  the  note  of  some  musical 
instrument,  or  the  treble  scream  of  some  child  or  female, 
in  fear  or  in  gaiety. 

The  party  at  length  landed  in  safety;  and  as  they 
approached  one  of  the  gates  of  the  camp,  there  sallied 
forth  a  brisk  array  of  gallant  cavaliers,  pages,  and 
squires,  exercising  their  masters'  horses  or  their  own. 
From  the  noise  they  made,  conversing  at  the  very  top 
of  their  voices,  galloping,  curvetting,  and  prancing 
their  palfreys,  it  seemed  as  if  their  early  discipline 
had  called  them  to  exercise  ere  the  fumes  of  last 
night's  revel  were  thoroughly  dissipated  by  repose. 
So  soon  as  they  saw  Bertha  and  her  party,  they 
approached  them  with  cries  which  marked  their  country 

13 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

was  Italy — 'AW  ertal  alV  erta!  Roha  de  guadagno, 
earner  adi!^^ 

They  gathered  round  the  Anglo-Saxon  maiden  and 
her  companions,  repeating  their  cries  in  a  manner  which 
made  Bertha  tremble.  Their  general  demand  was, 
*  What  was  her  business  in  their  camp? ' 

*I  would  to  the  general-in-chief,  cavaHers,'  answered 
Bertha,  'having  a  secret  message  to  his  ear,' 

*  For  whose  ear? '  said  a  leader  of  the  party,  a  hand- 
some youth  of  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  who  seemed 
either  to  have  a  sounder  brain  than  his  fellows,  or  to 
have  overflowed  it  with  less  wine.  'Which  of  our  leaders 
do  you  come  hither  to  see? '  he  demanded. 

*  Godfrey  of  Bouillon.' 

'Indeed!'  said  the  page  who  had  spoken  first;  'can 
nothing  of  less  consequence  serve  thy  turn?  Take  a  look 
amongst  us;  young  are  we  all,  and  reasonably  wealthy. 
My  Lord  of  Bouillon  is  old,  and  if  he  has  any  sequins,  he 
is  not  Uke  to  lavish  them  in  this  way.' 

'Still  I  have  a  token  to  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,'  answered 
Bertha,  'an  assured  one;  and  he  will  little  thank  any 
who  obstructs  my  free  passage  to  him ' ;  and  therewithal 
showing  a  little  case,  in  which  the  signet  of  the  Count  of 
Paris  was  inclosed,  'I  will  trust  it  in  your  hands,'  she 
said,  'if  you  promise  not  to  open  it,  but  to  give  me  free 
access  to  the  noble  leader  of  the  crusaders.' 

'I  will,'  said  the  youth,  'and  if  such  be  the  Duke's 
pleasure,  thou  shalt  be  admitted  to  him.' 

'Ernest  the  ApuHan,  thy  dainty  Italian  wit  is  caught 
in  a  trap,'  said  one  of  his  companions. 

'Thou  art  an  ultramontane  fool,  Polydore,'  returned 

'  That  is,  '  Take  heed!  take  heed!  There  is  booty,  comrades! '  >. 
14 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Ernest;  'there  may  be  more  in  this  than  either  thy  wit 
or  mine  is  able  to  fathom.  This  maiden  and  one  of 
her  attendants  wear  a  dress  belonging  to  the  Varangian 
Imperial  Guard.  They  have  perhaps  been  entrusted 
with  a  message  from  the  Emperor,  and  it  is  not  irrecon- 
cilable with  Alexius's  politics  to  send  it  through  such 
messengers  as  these.  Let  us,  therefore,  convey  them  in 
all  honour  to  the  general's  tent.' 

'With  all  my  heart,'  said  Polydore.  *A  blue-eyed 
wench  is  a  pretty  thing,  but  I  like  not  the  sauce  of  the 
camp-marshal,  nor  his  taste  in  attiring  men  who  give 
way  to  temptation.^  Yet,  ere  I  prove  a  fool  like  my  com- 
panion, I  would  ask  who  or  what  this  pretty  maiden  is, 
who  comes  to  put  noble  princes  and  holy  pilgrims  in 
mind  that  they  have  in  their  time  had  the  follies  of 
men?' 

Bertha  advanced  and  whispered  in  the  ear  of  Ernest. 
Meantime  joke  followed  jest,  among  Polydore  and  the 
rest  of  the  gay  youths,  in  riotous  and  ribald  succession, 
which,  however  characteristic  of  the  rude  speakers,  may 
as  well  be  omitted  here.  Their  effect  was  to  shake  in 
some  degree  the  fortitude  of  the  Saxon  maiden,  who  had 
some  difficulty  in  mustering  courage  to  address  them. 
*  As  you  have  mothers,  gentlemen,'  she  said,  'as  you  have 
fair  sisters,  whom  you  would  protect  from  dishonour 
with  your  best  blood,  as  you  love  and  honour  those 
holy  places  which  you  are  sworn  to  free  from  the  infidel 
enemy,  have  compassion  on  me,  that  you  may  merit 
success  in  your  undertaking ! ' 

'Fear  nothing,  maiden,'  said  Ernest,  'I  will  be  your 
protector;  and  you,  my  comrades,  be  ruled  by  me.   I 

*  See  Note  i. 
15 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

have,  during  your  brawling,  taken  a  view,  though  some- 
what against  my  promise,  of  the  pledge  which  she  bears, 
and  if  she  who  presents  it  is  affronted  or  maltreated,  be 
assured  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  will  severely  avenge  the 
wrong  done  her.' 

'Nay,  comrade,  if  thou  canst  warrant  us  so  much,* 
said  Polydore,  *I  will  myself  be  most  anxious  to 
conduct  the  young  woman  in  honour  and  safety  to  Sir 
Godfrey's  tent.' 

'The  princes,'  said  Ernest,  'must  be  nigh  meeting 
there  in  council.  What  I  have  said  I  will  warrant  and 
uphold  with  hand  and  life.  More  I  might  guess,  but 
I  conclude  this  sensible  young  maiden  can  speak  for 
herself.' 

'Now,  Heaven  bless  thee,  gallant  squire,'  said  Bertha, 
'and  make  thee  alike  brave  and  fortunate!  Embarrass 
yourself  no  further  about  me  than  to  dehver  me  safe  to 
your  leader  Godfrey.' 

'We  spend  time,'  said  Ernest,  springing  from  his 
horse.  'You  are  no  soft  Eastern,  fair  maid,  and  I 
presume  you  will  find  yourself  imder  no  difficulty  in 
managing  a  quiet  horse? ' 

'Not  the  least,'  said  Bertha,  as,  wrapping  herself  in 
her  cassock,  she  sprung  from  the  ground,  and  ahghted 
upon  the  spirited  palfrey  as  a  linnet  stoops  upon  a  rose- 
bush. 'And  now,  sir,  as  my  business  really  brooks  no 
delay,  I  will  be  indebted  to  you  to  show  me  instantly  to 
the  tent  of  Duke  Godfrey  of  Bouillon.' 

By  availing  herself  of  this  courtesy  of  the  young 
Apulian,  Bertha  imprudently  separated  herself  from  the 
old  Varangian;  but  the  intentions  of  the  youth  were 
honourable,  and  he  conducted  her  through  the  tents  and 

i6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

huts  to  the  pavilion  of  the  celebrated  general-in-chief  of 
the  crusade. 

'Here,'  he  said,  'you  must  tarry  for  a  space,  under  the 
guardianship  of  my  companions  (for  two  or  three  of  the 
pages  had  accompanied  them,  out  of  curiosity  to  see 
the  issue),  and  I  will  take  the  commands  of  the  Duke 
of  Bouillon  upon  the  subject.' 

To  this  nothing  could  be  objected,  and  Bertha  had  no- 
thing better  to  do  than  to  admire  the  outside  of  the  tent, 
which,  in  one  of  Alexius's  fits  of  generosity  and  munifi- 
cence, had  been  presented  by  the  Greek  emperor  to  the 
chief  of  the  Franks.  It  was  raised  upon  tall  spear-shaped 
poles,  which  had  the  semblance  of  gold;  its  curtains  were 
of  a  thick  stuff,  manufactured  of  silk,  cotton,  and  gold 
thread.  The  warders  who  stood  round  were  (at  least  dur- 
ing the  time  that  the  council  was  held)  old  grave  men,  the 
personal  squires  of  the  body,  most  of  them,  of  the  sover- 
eigns who  had  taken  the  cross,  and  who  could,  therefore, 
be  trusted  as  a  guard  over  the  assembly,  without  danger 
of  their  blabbing  what  they  might  overhear.  Their  ap- 
pearance was  serious  and  considerate,  and  they  looked 
like  men  who  had  taken  upon  them  the  cross,  not  as  an 
idle  adventure  of  arms,  but  as  a  purpose  of  the  most  sol- 
emn and  serious  nature.  One  of  these  stopt  the  Italian, 
and  demanded  what  business  authorised  him  to  press 
forward  into  the  council  of  the  crusaders,  who  were  al- 
ready taking  their  seats.  The  page  answered  by  giving 
his  name,  'Ernest  of  Otranto,  page  of  Prince  Tancred'; 
and  stated  that  he  announced  a  young  woman,  who  bore 
a  token  to  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  adding  that  it  was 
accompanied  by  a  message  for  his  own  ear. 

Bertha,  meantime,  laid  aside  her  mantle,  or  upper 

44  17 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

garment,  and  disposed  the  rest  of  her  dress  according  to 
the  Anglo-Saxon  costume.  She  had  hardly  completed 
this  task  before  the  page  of  Prince  Tancred  returned,  to 
conduct  her  into  the  presence  of  the  council  of  the  cru- 
sade. She  followed  his  signal;  while  the  other  young 
men  who  had  accompanied  her,  wondering  at  the  appar- 
ent ease  with  which  she  gained  admittance,  drew  back 
to  a  respectful  distance  from  the  tent,  and  there  can- 
vassed the  singularity  of  their  morning's  adventure. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  ambassadress  herself  entered 
the  council-chamber,  exhibiting  an  agreeable  mixture  of 
shamefacedness  and  reserve,  together  with  a  bold  deter- 
mination to  do  her  duty  at  all  events.  There  were  about 
fifteen  of  the  principal  crusaders  assembled  in  council, 
with  their  chieftain  Godfrey.  He  himself  was  a  tall 
strong  man,  arrived  at  that  period  of  hfe  in  which  men 
are  supposed  to  have  lost  none  of  their  resolution,  while 
they  have  acquired  a  wisdom  and  circumspection  un- 
known to  their  earlier  years.  The  countenance  of  God- 
frey bespoke  both  prudence  and  boldness,  and  resem- 
bled his  hair,  where  a  few  threads  of  silver  were  already 
mingled  with  his  raven  locks. 

Tancred,  the  noblest  knight  of  the  Christian  chivalry, 
sat  at  no  great  distance  from  him,  with  Hugh  Earl  of  Ver- 
mandois,  generally  called  the  Great  Count,  the  selfish 
and  wily  Bohemond,  the  powerful  Raymond  of  Prov- 
ence, and  others  of  the  principal  crusaders,  all  more  or 
less  completely  sheathed  in  armour. 

Bertha  did  not  allow  her  courage  to  be  broken  down, 
but  advancing  with  a  timid  grace  towards  Godfrey,  she 
placed  in  his  hands  the  signet,  which  had  been  restored 
to  her  by  the  young  page,  and,  after  a  deep  obeisance, 

i8 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

spoke  these  words:  'Godfrey,  Count  of  Bouillon,  Duke 
of  Lorraine  the  Lower,  chief  of  the  holy  enterprise  called 
the  crusade,  and  you,  his  gallant  comrades,  peers,  and 
companions,  by  whatever  titles  you  may  be  honoured,  I, 
an  humble  maiden  of  England,  daughter  of  Engelred, 
originally  a  franklin  of  Hampshire,  and  since  chieftain 
of  the  Foresters,  or  free  Anglo-Saxons,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  celebrated  Ederic,  do  claim  what  credence 
is  due  to  the  bearer  of  the  true  pledge  which  I  put  into 
your  hand,  on  the  part  of  one  not  the  least  considerable 
of  your  own  body,  Count  Robert  of  Paris  — ' 

'Our  most  honourable  confederate,'  said  Godfrey, 
looking  at  the  ring.  'Most  of  you,  my  lords,  must,  I 
think,  know  this  signet  —  a  field  sown  with  the  frag- 
ments of  many  splintered  lances.'  The  signet  was 
handed  from  one  of  the  assembly  to  another,  and  gen- 
erally recognised. 

When  Godfrey  had  signified  so  much,  the  maiden  re- 
sumed her  message.  'To  all  true  crusaders,  therefore, 
comrades  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  and  especially  to  the 
Duke  himself  —  to  all,  I  say,  excepting  Bohemond  of 
Tarentum,  whom  he  counts  unworthy  of  his  notice — ' 

'Hah!  me  unworthy  of  his  notice,'  said  Bohemond. 
'What  mean  you  by  that,  damsel?  But  the  Count  of 
Paris  shall  answer  it  to  me.' 

'Under  your  favour.  Sir  Bohemond,'  said  Godfrey, 
'no.  Our  articles  renounce  the  sending  of  challenges 
among  ourselves,  and  the  matter,  if  not  dropt  betwixt 
the  parties,  must  be  referred  to  the  voice  of  this  honour- 
able council.' 

'I  think  I  guess  the  business  now,  my  lord,'  said  Bohe- 
mond. 'The  Count  of  Paris  is  disposed  to  turn  and  tear 

19 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

me,  because  I  offered  him  good  counsel  on  the  evening 
before  we  left  Constantinople,  when  he  neglected  to 
accept  or  be  guided  by  it  — ' 

'It  will  be  the  more  easily  explained  when  we  have 
heard  his  message,'  said  Godfrey.  'Speak  forth  Lord 
Robert  of  Paris's  charge,  damsel,  that  we  may  take  some 
order  with  that  which  now  seems  a  perplexed  business.' 

Bertha  resumed  her  message;  and,  having  briefly 
narrated  the  recent  events,  thus  concluded:  'The  battle 
is  to  be  done  to-morrow,  about  two  hours  after  day- 
break, and  the  Count  entreats  of  the  noble  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine that  he  will  permit  some  fifty  of  the  lances  of 
France  to  attend  the  deed  of  arms,  and  secure  that  fair 
and  honourable  conduct  which  he  has  otherwise  some 
doubts  of  receiving  at  the  hands  of  his  adversary.  Or  if 
any  young  and  gallant  knight  should,  of  his  own  free 
will,  wish  to  view  the  said  combat,  the  Count  will  feel 
his  presence  as  an  honour;  always  he  desires  that  the 
name  of  such  knight  be  numbered  carefully  with  the 
armed  crusaders  who  shall  attend  in  the  lists,  and  that 
the  whole  shall  be  limited,  by  Duke  Godfrey's  own  in- 
spection, to  fifty  lances  only,  which  are  enough  to  obtain 
the  protection  required,  while  more  would  be  considered 
as  a  preparation  for  aggression  upon  the  Grecians,  and 
occasion  the  revival  of  disputes  which  are  now  happily 
at  rest.' 

Bertha  had  no  sooner  finished  delivering  her  manifesto, 
and  made  with  great  grace  her  obeisance  to  the  council, 
than  a  sort  of  whisper  took  place  in  the  assembly,  which 
soon  assumed  a  more  lively  tone. 

Their  solemn  vow  not  to  turn  their  back  upon  Pales- 
tine, now  that  they  had  set  their  hands  to  the  plough, 

20 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

was  strongly  urged  by  some  of  the  elder  knights  of  the 
council,  and  two  or  three  high  prelates,  who  had  by  this 
time  entered  to  take  share  in  the  deliberations.  The 
young  knights,  on  the  other  hand,  were  fired  with  in- 
dignation on  hearing  the  manner  in  which  their  com- 
rade had  been  trepanned;  and  few  of  them  could  think 
of  missing  a  combat  in  the  lists  in  a  country  in  which 
such  sights  were  so  rare,  and  where  one  was  to  be  fought 
so  near  them. 

Godfrey  rested  his  brow  on  his  hand,  and  seemed  in 
great  perplexity.  To  break  with  the  Greeks,  after  hav- 
ing suffered  so  many  injuries  in  order  to  maintain  the 
advantage  of  keeping  the  peace  with  them,  seemed  very 
impolitic,  and  a  sacrifice  of  all  he  had  obtained  by  a  long 
course  of  painful  forbearance  towards  Alexius  Comnenus. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  was  bound  as  a  man  of  honour  to 
resent  the  injury  offered  to  Count  Robert  of  Paris,  whose 
reckless  spirit  of  chivalry  made  him  the  darling  of  the 
army.  It  was  the  cause,  too,  of  a  beautiful  lady,  and  a 
brave  one.  Every  knight  in  the  host  would  think  him- 
self bound  by  his  vow  to  hasten  to  her  defence.  When 
Godfrey  spoke,  it  was  to  complain  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
determination,  and  the  short  time  there  was  to  consider 
the  case. 

*  With  submission  to  my  Lord  Duke  of  Lorraine,'  said 
Tancred,  'I  was  a  knight  ere  I  was  a  crusader,  and  took 
on  me  the  vows  of  chivalry  ere  I  placed  this  blessed  sign 
upon  my  shoulder :  the  vow  first  made  must  be  first  dis- 
charged. I  will  therefore  do  penance  for  neglecting,  for 
a  space,  the  obligations  of  the  second  vow,  while  I  ob- 
serve that  which  recalls  me  to  the  first  duty  of  knight- 
hood —  the  relief  of  a  distressed  lady  in  the  hands  of 

21 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

men  whose  conduct  towards  her,  and  towards  this  host, 
in  every  respect  entitles  me  to  call  them  treacherous 
faitours.' 

'  If  my  kinsman  Tancred,'  said  Bohemond,  'will  check 
his  impetuosity,  and  you,  my  lords,  will  listen,  as  you 
have  sometimes  deigned  to  do,  to  my  advice,  I  think  I 
can  direct  you  how  to  keep  clear  of  any  breach  of  your 
oath,  and  yet  fully  to  relieve  our  distressed  fellow-pil- 
grims. I  see  some  suspicious  looks  are  cast  towards  me, 
which  are  caused  perhaps  by  the  churUsh  manner  in 
which  this  violent,  and,  in  this  case,  almost  insane, 
young  warrior  has  protested  against  receiving  my  assist- 
ance. My  great  offence  is  the  having  given  him  warn- 
ing, by  precept  and  example,  of  the  treachery  which  was 
about  to  be  practised  against  him,  and  instructed  him 
to  use  forbearance  and  temperance.  My  warning  he 
altogether  contemned,  my  example  he  neglected  to  fol- 
low, and  fell  into  the  snare  which  was  spread,  as  it  were, 
before  his  very  eyes.  Yet  the  Count  of  Paris,  in  rashly 
contemning  me,  has  acted  only  from  a  temper  which 
misfortune  and  disappointment  have  rendered  irrational 
and  frantic.  I  am  so  far  from  bearing  him  ill-will,  that 
with  your  lordship's  permission,  and  that  of  the  present 
council,  I  will  hasten  to  the  place  of  rendezvous  with 
fifty  lances,  making  up  the  retinue  which  attends  upon 
each  to  at  least  ten  men,  which  will  make  the  stipulated 
auxiliary  force  equal  to  five  hundred;  and  with  these  I 
can  have  little  doubt  of  rescuing  the  Count  and  his 
lady.' 

'Nobly  proposed,'  said  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  'and 
with  a  charitable  forgiveness  of  injuries  which  becomes 
our  Christian  expedition.  But  thou  hast  forgot  the  main 

22 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

difficulty,  brother  Bohemond,  that  we  are  sworn  never 
to  turn  back  upon  the  sacred  journey.' 

*  If  we  can  elude  that  oath  upon  the  present  occasion,' 
said  Bohemond,  '  it  becomes  our  duty  to  do  so.  Are  we 
such  bad  horsemen,  or  are  our  steeds  so  awkward,  that 
we  cannot  rein  them  back  from  this  to  the  landing- 
place  of  Scutari?  We  can  get  them  on  shipboard  in  the 
same  retrograde  manner,  and  when  we  arrive  in  Europe, 
where  our  vow  binds  us  no  longer,  the  Count  and 
Countess  of  Paris  are  rescued,  and  our  vow  remains 
entire  in  the  chancery  of  Heaven.' 

A  general  shout  arose  —  'Long  life  to  the  gallant 
Bohemond!  Shame  to  us  if  we  do  not  fly  to  the  assist- 
ance of  so  valiant  a  knight  and  a  lady  so  lovely,  since 
we  can  do-  so  without  breach  of  our  vow.' 

*The  question,'  said  Godfrey,  'appears  to  me  to  be 
eluded  rather  than  solved ;  yet  such  evasions  have  been 
admitted  by  the  most  learned  and  scrupulous  clerks;  nor 
do  I  hesitate  to  admit  of  Bohemond's  expedient,  any 
more  than  if  the  enemy  had  attacked  our  rear,  which 
might  have  occasioned  our  countermarching  to  be  a 
case  of  absolute  necessity.' 

Some  there  were  in  the  assembly,  particularly  the 
churchmen,  inclined  to  think  that  the  oath  by  which 
the  crusaders  had  solemnly  bound  themselves  ought  to 
be  as  literally  obeyed.  But  Peter  the  Hermit,  who  had 
a  place  in  the  council,  and  possessed  great  weight,  de- 
clared it  as  his  opinion,  'That  since  the  precise  observ- 
ance of  their  vow  would  tend  to  diminish  the  forces 
of  the  crusade,  it  was  in  fact  unlawful,  and  should  not 
be  kept  according  to  the  literal  meaning,  if,  by  a  fair 
construction,  it  could  be  eluded.' 

23 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

He  offered  himself  to  back  the  animal  which  he  be- 
strode—  that  is,  his  ass;  and  though  he  was  diverted 
from  showing  this  example  by  the  remonstrances  of 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  who  was  afraid  of  his  becoming  a 
scandal  in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen,  yet  he  so  prevailed 
by  his  arguments,  that  the  knights,  far  from  scrupling 
to  countermarch,  eagerly  contended  which  should  have 
the  honour  of  making  one  of  the  party  which  should 
retrograde  to  Constantinople,  see  the  combat,  and  bring 
back  to  the  host  in  safety  the  valorous  Count  of  Paris, 
of  whose  victory  no  one  doubted,  and  his  amazonian 
countess. 

This  emulation  was  also  put  an  end  to  by  the  author- 
ity of  Godfrey,  who  himself  selected  the  fifty  knights 
who  were  to  compose  the  party.  They  were  chosen  from 
different  nations,  and  the  command  of  the  whole  was 
given  to  young  Tancred  of  Otranto.  Notwithstanding 
the  claim  of  Bohemond,  Godfrey  detained  the  latter, 
under  the  pretext  that  his  knowledge  of  the  country  and 
people  was  absolutely  necessary  to  enable  the  council  to 
form  the  plan  of  the  campaign  in  Syria;  but  in  reality 
he  dreaded  the  selfishness  of  a  man  of  great  ingenuity  as 
well  as  military  skill,  who,  finding  himself  in  a  separate 
command,  might  be  tempted,  should  opportunities  arise, 
to  enlarge  his  own  power  and  dominion  at  the  expense 
of  the  pious  purposes  of  the  crusade  in  general.  The 
younger  men  of  the  expedition  were  chiefly  anxious  to 
procure  such  horses  as  had  been  thoroughly  trained,  and 
could  go  through  with  ease  and  temper  the  manoeuvre 
of  equitation  by  which  it  was  designed  to  render  legiti- 
mate the  movement  which  they  had  recourse  to.  The 
selection  was  at  length    made,    and    the   detachment 

24 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

ordered  to  draw  up  in  the  rear,  or  upon  the  eastward 
line  of  the  Christian  encampment.  In  the  meanwhile, 
Godfrey  charged  Bertha  with  a  message  for  the  Count 
of  Paris,  in  which,  slightly  censuring  him  for  not  observ- 
ing more  caution  in  his  intercourse  with  the  Greeks,  he 
informed  him  that  he  had  sent  a  detachment  of  fifty 
lances,  with  the  corresponding  squires,  pages,  men-at- 
arms,  and  cross-bows,  five  hundred  in  number,  com- 
manded by  the  valiant  Tancred,  to  his  assistance.  The 
Duke  also  informed  him  that  he  had  added  a  suit  of 
armour  of  the  best  temper  Milan  could  afford,  to- 
gether with  a  trusty  war-horse,  which  he  entreated  him 
to  use  upon  the  field  of  battle;  for  Bertha  had  not 
omitted  to  intimate  Count  Robert's  want  of  the  means 
of  knightly  equipment.  The  horse  was  brought  before 
the  pavilion  accordingly,  completely  barbed  or  armed  in 
steel,  and  laden  with  armour  for  the  knight's  body. 
Godfrey  himself  put  the  bridle  into  Bertha's  hand. 

*Thou  need'st  not  fear  to  trust  thyself  with  this  steed: 
he  is  as  gentle  and  docile  as  he  is  fleet  and  brave.  Place 
thyself  on  his  back,  and  take  heed  thou  stir  not  from  the 
side  of  the  noble  Prince  Tancred  of  Otranto,  who  will 
be  the  faithful  defender  of  a  maiden  that  has  this  day 
shown  dexterity,  courage,  and  fidelity.' 

Bertha  bowed  low,  as  her  cheeks  glowed  at  praise 
from  one  whose  talents  and  worth  were  in  such  general 
esteem  as  to  have  raised  him  to  the  distinguished  situa- 
tion of  leader  of  a  host  which  numbered  in  it  the  bravest 
and  most  distinguished  captains  of  Christendom. 

'  Who  are  yon  two  persons? '  continued  Godfrey,  speak- 
ing of  the  companions  of  Bertha,  whom  he  saw  in  the 
distance  before  the  tent. 

25 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'The  one/  answered  the  damsel,  *is  the  master 
of  the  ferryboat  which  brought  me  over;  and  the 
other  an  old  Varangian  who  came  hither  as  my  pro- 
tector.' 

*As  they  may  come  to  employ  their  eyes  here,  and 
their  tongues  on  the  opposite  side,'  returned  the  general 
of  the  crusaders,  *I  do  not  think  it  prudent  to  let  them 
accompany  you.  They  shall  remain  here  for  some  short 
time.  The  citizens  of  Scutari  will  not  comprehend  for 
some  space  what  our  intention  is,  and  I  could  wish  Prince 
Tancred  and  his  attendants  to  be  the  first  to  announce 
their  own  arrival.* 

Bertha  accordingly  intimated  the  pleasure  of  the 
French  general  to  the  parties,  without  naming  his 
motives;  when  the  ferryman  began  to  exclaim  on  the 
hardship  of  intercepting  him  in  his  trade,  and  Osmund 
to  complain  of  being  detained  from  his  duties.  But 
Bertha,  by  the  orders  of  Godfrey,  left  them  with  the 
assurance  that  they  would  be  soon  at  liberty.  Finding 
themselves  thus  abandoned,  each  applied  himself  to  his 
favourite  amusement.  The  ferryman  occupied  himself 
in  staring  about  at  all  that  was  new;  and  Osmund,  having 
in  the  meantime  accepted  an  offer  of  breakfast  from 
some  of  the  domestics,  was  presently  engaged  with  a 
flask  of  such  red  wine  as  would  have  reconciled  him  to  a 
worse  lot  than  that  which  he  at  present  experienced. 

The  detachment  of  Tancred,  fifty  spears  and  their 
armed  retinue,  which  amounted  fully  to  five  hundred 
men,  after  having  taken  a  short  and  hasty  refreshment, 
were  in  arms  and  mounted  before  the  sultry  hour  of 
noon.  After  some  manoeuvres,  of  which  the  Greeks  of 
Scutari,  whose  curiosity  was  awakened  by  the  prepara- 

26 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

tions  of  the  detachment,  were  at  a  loss  to  comprehend 
the  purpose,  they  formed  into  a  single  column,  having 
four  men  in  front.  When  the  horses  were  in  this  position, 
the  whole  riders  at  once  began  to  rein  back.  The  action 
was  one  to  which  both  the  cavaliers  and  their  horses 
were  well  accustomed,  nor  did  it  at  first  afford  much 
surprise  to  the  spectators;  but  when  the  same  retrograde 
evolution  was  continued,  and  the  body  of  crusaders 
seemed  about  to  enter  the  town  of  Scutari  in  so  extraor- 
dinary a  fashion,  some  idea  of  the  truth  began  to  occupy 
the  citizens.  The  cry  at  length  was  general,  when  Tan- 
cred  and  a  few  others,  whose  horses  were  unusually  well 
trained,  arrived  at  the  port,  and  possessed  themselves 
of  a  galley,  into  which  they  led  their  horses,  and,  dis- 
regarding all  opposition  from  the  imperial  officers  of  the 
haven,  pushed  the  vessel  off  from  the  shore. 

Other  cavaliers  did  not  accomplish  their  purpose  so 
easily;  the  riders,  or  the  horses,  were  less  accustomed  to 
continue  in  the  constrained  pace  for  such  a  considerable 
length  of  time,  so  that  many  of  the  knights,  having 
retrograded  for  one  or  two  hundred  yards,  thought  their 
vow  was  sufficiently  observed  by  having  so  far  deferred 
to  it,  and  riding  in  the  ordinary  manner  into  the  town, 
seized  without  further  ceremony  on  some  vessels,  which, 
notwithstanding  the  orders  of  the  Greek  emperor,  had 
been  allowed  to  remain  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  strait. 
Some  less  able  horsemen  met  with  various  accidents; 
for  though  it  was  a  proverb  of  the  time  that  nothing  was 
so  bold  as  a  blind  horse,  yet  from  this  mode  of  equitation, 
where  neither  horse  nor  rider  saw  the  way  he  was  going, 
some  steeds  were  overthrown,  others  backed  upon  dan- 
gerous obstacles;  and  the  bones  of  the  cavaliers  them- 

27 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

selves  suffered  much  more  than  would  have  been  the 
case  in  an  ordinary  march. 

Those  horsemen,  also,  who  met  with  falls  incurred  the 
danger  of  being  slain  by  the  Greeks,  had  not  Godfrey, 
surmounting  his  religious  scruples,  despatched  a  squad- 
ron to  extricate  them,  a  task  which  they  performed  with 
great  ease.  The  greater  part  of  Tancred's  followers 
succeeded  in  embarking,  as  was  intended,  nor  was  there 
more  than  a  score  or  two  finally  amissing.  To  accomplish 
their  voyage,  however,  even  the  Prince  of  Otranto  him- 
self, and  most  of  his  followers,  were  obliged  to  betake 
themselves  to  the  unknightly  labours  of  the  oar.  This 
they  found  extremely  difficult,  as  well  from  the  state 
both  of  the  tide  and  the  wind  as  from  the  want  of  prac- 
tice at  the  exercise.  Godfrey  in  person  viewed  their 
progress  anxiously  from  a  neighbouring  height,  and  per- 
ceived with  regret  the  difficulty  which  they  found  in 
making  their  way,  which  was  still  more  increased  by  the 
necessity  for  their  keeping  in  a  body,  and  waiting  for  the 
slowest  and  worst-manned  vessels,  which  considerably 
detained  those  that  were  more  expeditious.  They  made 
some  progress,  however;  nor  had  the  commander-in- 
chief  the  least  doubt  that  before  sunset  they  would 
safely  reach  the  opposite  side  of  the  strait. 

He  retired  at  length  from  his  post  of  observation, 
having  placed  a  careful  sentinel  in  his  stead,  with  direc- 
tions to  bring  him  word  the  instant  that  the  detachment 
reached  the  opposite  shore.  This  the  soldier  could  easily 
discern  by  the  eye,  if  it  was  daylight  at  the  time;  if,  on 
the  contrary,  it  was  night  before  they  could  arrive,  the 
Prince  of  Otranto  had  orders  to  show  certain  lights, 
which,  in  case  of  their  meeting  resistance  from  the 

28 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Greeks,  should  be  arranged  in  a  peculiar  manner,  so  as 
to  indicate  danger. 

Godfrey  then  explained  to  the  Greek  authorities  of 
Scutari,  whom  he  summoned  before  him,  the  necessity 
there  was  that  he  should  keep  in  readiness  such  vessels 
as  could  be  procured,  with  which,  in  case  of  need,  he  was 
determined  to  transport  a  strong  division  from  his  army 
to  support  those  who  had  gone  before.  He  then  rode 
back  to  his  camp,  the  confused  murmurs  of  which,  ren- 
dered more  noisy  by  the  various  discussions  concerning 
the  events  of  the  day,  rolled  off  from  the  numerous  host 
of  the  crusaders,  and  mingled  with  the  hoarse  sound  of 
the  many-billowed  Hellespont. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

All  is  prepared:  the  chambers  of  the  mine 

Are  cramm'd  with  the  combustible,  which,  harmless 

While  yet  unkindled  as  the  sable  sand. 

Needs  but  a  spark  to  change  its  nature  so 

That  he,  who  wakes  it  from  its  slumbrous  mood, 

Dreads  scarce  the  explosion  less  than  he  who  knows 

That  't  is  his  towers  which  meet  its  fury. 

Anonytnous. 

When  the  sky  is  darkened  suddenly,  and  the  atmos- 
phere grows  thick  and  stifling,  the  lower  ranks  of  crea- 
tion entertain  the  ominous  sense  of  a  coming  tempest. 
The  birds  fly  to  the  thickets,  the  wild  creatures  retreat 
to  the  closest  covers  which  their  instinct  gives  them  the 
habit  of  frequenting,  and  domestic  animals  show  their 
apprehension  of  the  approaching  thunder-storm  by  sin- 
gular actions  and  movements  inferring  fear  and  dis- 
turbance. 

It  seems  that  human  nature,  when  its  original  habits 
are  cultivated  and  attended  to,  possesses,  on  similar 
occasions,  something  of  that  prescient  foreboding  which 
announces  the  approaching  tempest  to  the  inferior  ranks 
of  creation.  The  cultivation  of  our  intellectual  powers 
goes  perhaps  too  far  when  it  teaches  us  entirely  to  sup- 
press and  disregard  those  natural  feelings  which  were 
originally  designed  as  sentinels  by  which  nature  warned 
us  of  impending  danger. 

Something  of  the  kind,  however,  still  remains,  and 
that  species  of  feeling  which  announces  to  us  sorrowful 
or  alarming  tidings  may  be  said,  like  the  prophecies  of 
the  weird  sisters,  to  come  over  us  like  a  sudden  cloud. 

30 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

During  the  fatal  day  which  was  to  precede  the  combat 
of  the  Caesar  with  the  Count  of  Paris,  there  were  current 
through  the  city  of  Constantinople  the  most  contra- 
dictory, and  at  the  same  time  the  most  terrific,  reports. 
Privy  conspiracy,  it  was  alleged,  was  on  the  very  eve  of 
breaking  out;  open  war,  it  was  reported  by  others,  was 
about  to  shake  her  banners  over  the  devoted  city;  the 
precise  cause  was  not  agreed  upon,  any  more  than  the 
nature  of  the  enemy.  Some  said  that  the  barbarians 
from  the  borders  of  Thracia,  the  Hungarians,  as  they 
were  termed,  and  the  Comani  were  on  their  march  from 
the  frontiers  to  surprise  the  city;  another  report  stated 
that  the  Turks,  who  during  this  period  were  established 
in  Asia,  had  resolved  to  prevent  the  threatened  attack 
of  the  crusaders  upon  Palestine,  by  surprising  not  only 
the  Western  pilgrims,  but  the  Christians  of  the  East,  by 
one  of  their  innumerable  invasions,  executed  with  their 
characteristic  rapidity. 

Another  report,  approaching  more  near  to  the  truth, 
declared  that  the  crusaders  themselves,  having  discov- 
ered their  various  causes  of  complaint  against  Alexius 
Comnenus,  had  resolved  to  march  back  their  united 
forces  to  the  capital,  with  a  view  of  dethroning  or  chas- 
tising him ;  and  the  citizens  were  dreadfully  alarmed  for 
the  consequences  of  the  resentment  of  men  so  fierce  in 
their  habits  and  so  strange  in  their  manners.  In  short, 
although  they  did  not  all  agree  on  the  precise  cause  of 
danger,  it  was  yet  generally  allowed  that  something  of  a 
dreadful  kind  was  impending,  which  appeared  to  be  in  a 
certain  degree  confirmed  by  the  motions  that  were  tak- 
ing place  among  the  troops.  The  Varangians,  as  well  as 
the  Immortals,  were  gradually  assembled,  and  placed 

31 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

in  occupation  of  the  strongest  parts  of  the  city,  until  at 
length  the  fleet  of  galleys,  row-boats,  and  transports, 
occupied  by  Tancred  and  his  party,  were  observed  to 
put  themselves  in  motion  from  Scutari,  and  attempt  to 
gain  such  a  height  in  the  narrow  sea  as  upon  the  turn  of 
the  tide  should  transport  them  to  the  port  of  the  capital. 

Alexius  Comnenus  was  himself  struck  at  this  unex- 
pected movement  on  the  part  of  the  crusaders.  Yet, 
after  some  conversation  with  Hereward,  on  whom  he  had 
determined  to  repose  his  confidence,  and  had  now  gone 
too  far  to  retreat,  he  became  reassured,  the  more  espe- 
cially by  the  limited  size  of  the  detachment  which  seemed 
to  meditate  so  bold  a  measure  as  an  attack  upon  his 
capital.  To  those  around  him  he  said,  with  carelessness, 
that  it  was  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  a  trumpet  could 
blow  to  the  charge,  within  hearing  of  the  crusaders' 
camp,  without  some  out  of  so  many  knights  coming 
forth  to  see  the  cause  and  the  issue  of  the  conflict. 

The  conspirators  also  had  their  secret  fears  when  the 
little  armament  of  Tancred  had  been  seen  on  the  straits. 
Agelastes  mounted  a  mule  and  went  to  the  shore  of  the 
sea,  at  the  place  now  called  Galata.  He  met  Bertha's 
old  ferryman,  whom  Godfrey  had  set  at  liberty,  partly 
in  contempt,  and  partly  that  the  report  he  was  likely  to 
make  might  serve  to  amuse  the  conspirators  in  the  city. 
Closely  examined  by  Agelastes,  he  confessed  that  the 
present  detachment,  so  far  as  he  understood,  was 
despatched  at  the  instance  of  Bohemond,  and  was  under 
the  command  of  his  kinsman,  Tancred,  whose  well- 
known  banner  was  floating  from  the  headmost  vessel. 
This  gave  courage  to  Agelastes,  who,  in  the  course  of  his 
intrigues,  had  opened  a  private  communication  with  the 

32 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

wily  and  ever  mercenary  prince  of  Antioch.  The  object 
of  the  philosopher  had  been  to  obtain  from  Bohemond  a 
body  of  his  followers  to  cooperate  in  the  intended  con- 
spiracy, and  fortify  the  party  of  insurgents.  It  is  true, 
that  Bohemond  had  returned  no  answer;  but  the  account 
now  given  by  the  ferryman,  and  the  sight  of  Tancred 
the  kinsman  of  Bohemond's  banner  displayed  on  the 
straits,  satisfied  the  philosopher  that  his  offers,  his 
presents,  and  his  promises  had  gained  to  his  side  the 
avaricious  Italian,  and  that  this  band  had  been  se- 
lected by  Bohemond,  and  were  coming  to  act  in  his 
favour. 

As  Agelastes  turned  to  go  off,  he  almost  jostled  a  per- 
son as  much  muffled  up,  and  apparently  as  unwilling 
to  be  known,  as  the  philosopher  himself.  Alexius  Com- 
nenus,  however  —  for  it  was  the  Emperor  himself  — 
knew  Agelastes,  though  rather  from  his  stature  and 
gestures  than  his  countenance;  and  could  not  forbear 
whispering  in  his  ear,  as  he  passed,  the  well-known  lines, 
to  which  the  pretended  sage's  various  acquisitions  gave 
some  degree  of  point :  — 

'  Grammaticus,  rhetor,  geometres,  pictor,  aliptes, 
Augur,  schoenobates,  medicus,  magus;  omnia  novit. 
Graiculus  esuriens  in  coelum,  jusseris,  ibit.'  ^ 

Agelastes  first  started  at  the  unexpected  sound  of  the 
Emperor's  voice,  yet  immediately  recovered  presence  of 
mind,  the  want  of  which  had  made  him  suspect  himself 
betrayed;  and  without  taking  notice  of  the  rank  of  the 
person  to  whom  he  spoke,  he  answered  by  a  quotation 
which  should  return  the  alarm  he  had  received.  The 
speech  that  suggested  itself  was  said  to  be  that  which 

^  Sec  Note  2. 
44  33 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  phantom  of  Cleonice  dinned  into  the  ears  of  the 
tyrant  who  murdered  her  — 

*Tu  cole  justitiam;  tequc  atque  alios  manet  ultor.'  * 

The  sentence,  and  the  recollections  which  accompanied 
it,  thrilled  through  the  heart  of  the  Emperor,  who 
walked  on,  however,  without  any  notice  or  reply. 

'The  vile  conspirator,'  he  said,  'had  his  associates 
around  him,  otherwise  he  had  not  hazarded  that  threat. 
Or  it  may  have  been  worse:  Agelastes  himself,  on  the 
very  brink  of  this  world,  may  have  obtained  that  singu- 
lar glance  into  futurity  proper  to  that  situation,  and 
perhaps  speaks  less  from  his  own  reflection  than  from  a 
strange  spirit  of  prescience,  which  dictates  his  words. 
Have  I  then  in  earnest  sinned  so  far  in  my  imperial  duty 
as  to  make  it  just  to  apply  to  me  the  warning  used  by 
the  injured  Cleonice  to  her  ravisher  and  murderer? 
Methinks  I  have  not.  Methinks  that,  at  less  expense 
than  that  of  a  just  severity,  I  could  ill  have  kept  my 
seat  in  the  high  place  where  Heaven  has  been  pleased  to 
seat  me,  and  where,  as  a  ruler,  I  am  bound  to  maintain 
my  station.  Methinks  the  sum  of  those  who  have  experi- 
enced my  clemency  may  be  well  numbered  with  that  of 
such  as  have  sustained  the  deserved  punishments  of  their 
guilt.  But  has  that  vengeance,  however  deserved  in 
itself,  been  always  taken  in  a  legal  or  justifiable  manner? 
My  conscience,  I  doubt,  will  hardly  answer  so  home  a 
question;  and  where  is  the  man,  had  he  the  virtues  of 
Antoninus  himself,  that  can  hold  so  high  and  responsible 
a  place,  yet  sustain  such  an  interrogation  as  is  implied  in 
that  sort  of  warning  which  I  have  received  from  this 

^  See  Note  2. 
34 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

traitor?  Tu  cole  justitiam;  we  all  need  to  use  justice  to 
others.  Teque  atque  alios  manet  uUor;  we  are  all  amen- 
able to  an  avenging  being.  I  will  see  the  Patriarch  — 
instantly  will  I  see  him;  and  by  confessing  my  trans- 
gressions to  the  church,  I  will,  by  her  plenary  indul- 
gence, acquire  the  right  of  spending  the  last  day  of  my 
reign  in  a  consciousness  of  innocence,  or  at  least  of  par- 
don —  a  state  of  mind  rarely  the  lot  of  those  whose  Unes 
have  fallen  in  lofty  places.' 

So  saying,  he  passed  to  the  palace  of  Zosimus  the 
Patriarch,  to  whom  he  could  unbosom  himself  with 
more  safety  because  he  had  long  considered  Agelastes 
as  a  private  enemy  to  the  church,  and  a  man  attached 
to  the  ancient  doctrines  of  heathenism.  In  the  councils 
of  the  state  they  were  also  opposed  to  each  other,  nor  did 
the  Emperor  doubt  that,  in  communicating  the  secret  of 
the  conspiracy  to  the  Patriarch,  he  was  sure  to  attain  a 
loyal  and  firm  supporter  in  the  defence  which  he  pro- 
posed to  himself.  He  therefore  gave  a  signal  by  a  low 
whistle,  and  a  confidential  officer,  well  mounted,  ap- 
proached him,  who  attended  him  in  his  ride,  though 
unostentatiously,  and  at  some  distance. 

In  this  manner,  therefore,  Alexius  Comnenus  pro- 
ceeded to  the  palace  of  the  Patriarch,  with  as  much 
speed  as  was  consistent  with  his  purpose  of  avoiding  to 
attract  any  particular  notice  as  he  passed  through  the 
street.  During  the  whole  ride,  the  warning  of  Agelastes 
repeatedly  occurred  to  him,  and  his  conscience  reminded 
him  of  too  many  actions  of  his  reign  which  could  only 
be  justified  by  necessity,  emphatically  said  to  be  the 
tyrant's  plea,  and  which  were  of  themselves  deserving 
the  dire  vengeance  so  long  delay    • 

35 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

When  he  came  in  sight  of  the  splendid  towers  which 
adorned  the  front  of  the  patriarchal  palace,  he  turned 
aside  from  the  lofty  gates,  repaired  to  a  narrow  court, 
and  again  giving  his  mule  to  his  attendant,  he  stopt 
before  a  postern,  whose  low  arch  and  humble  architrave 
seemed  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  its  leading  to  any 
place  of  importance.  On  knocking,  however,  a  priest  of 
an  inferior  order  opened  the  door,  who,  with  a  deep 
reverence,  received  the  Emperor  so  soon  as  he  had  made 
himself  known,  and  conducted  him  into  the  interior  of 
the  palace.  Demanding  a  secret  interview  with  the 
Patriarch,  Alexius  was  then  ushered  into  his  private 
library,  where  he  was  received  by  the  aged  priest  with 
the  deepest  respect,  which  the  nature  of  his  communica- 
tion soon  changed  into  horror  and  astonishment. 

Although  Alexius  was  supposed  by  many  of  his  own 
court,  and  particularly  by  some  members  of  his  own 
family,  to  be  little  better  than  a  hypocrite  in  his  religious 
professions,  yet  such  severe  observers  were  unjust  in 
branding  him  with  a  name  so  odious.  He  was  indeed 
aware  of  the  great  support  which  he  received  from  the 
good  opinion  of  the  clergy,  and  to  them  he  was  willing 
to  make  sacrifices  for  the  advantage  of  the  church,  or  of 
individual  prelates  who  manifested  fideUty  to  the  crown; 
but  though,  on  the  one  hand,  such  sacrifices  were  rarely 
made  by  Alexius  without  a  view  to  temporal  policy,  yet, 
on  the  other,  he  regarded  them  as  recommended  by  his 
devotional  feelings,  and  took  credit  to  himself  for  various 
grants  and  actions,  as  dictated  by  sincere  piety,  which, 
in  another  aspect,  were  the  fruits  of  temporal  policy. 
His  m.ode  of  looking  on  these  measures  was  that  of 
a  person  with  oblique  vision,  who  sees  an  object  in  a 

36 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

different  manner  according  to  the  point  from  which  he 
chances  to  contemplate  it. 

The  Emperor  placed  his  own  errors  of  government 
before  the  Patriarch  in  his  confession,  giving  due  weight 
to  every  breach  of  morality  as  it  occurred,  and  stripping 
from  them  the  lineaments  and  palliative  circumstances 
which  had  in  his  own  imagination  lessened  their  guilt. 
The  Patriarch  heard,  to  his  astonishment,  the  real 
thread  of  many  a  court  intrigue,  which  had  borne  a  very 
different  appearance  till  the  Emperor's  narrative  either 
justified  his  conduct  upon  the  occasion  or  left  it  totally 
unjustifiable.  Upon  the  whole,  the  balance  was  cer- 
tainly more  in  favour  of  Alexius  than  the  Patriarch  had 
supposed  Hkely  in  that  more  distant  view  he  had  taken 
of  the  intrigues  of  the  court,  when,  as  usual,  the  minis- 
ters and  the  courtiers  endeavoured  to  make  up  for  the 
applause  which  they  had  given  in  council  to  the  most 
blameable  actions  of  the  absolute  monarch  by  elsewhere 
imputing  to  his  motives  greater  guilt  than  really  be- 
longed to  them.  Many  men  who  had  fallen  sacrifices, 
it  was  supposed,  to  the  personal  spleen  or  jealousy  of  the 
Emperor,  appeared  to  have  been  in  fact  removed  from 
life,  or  from  hberty,  because  their  enjoying  either  was 
inconsistent  with  the  quiet  of  the  state  and  the  safety 
of  the  monarch. 

Zosimus  also  learned,  what  he  perhaps  already  sus- 
pected, that,  amidst  the  profound  silence  of  despotism 
which  seemed  to  pervade  the  Grecian  empire,  it  heaved 
frequently  with  convulsive  throes,  which  ever  and  anon 
made  obvious  the  existence  of  a  volcano  under  the  sur- 
face. Thus,  while  smaller  delinquencies,  or  avowed  dis- 
content with  the  imperial  government,  seldom  occurred, 

37 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

and  were  severely  punished  when  they  did,  the  deepest 
and  most  mortal  conspiracies  against  the  life  and  the 
authority  of  the  Emperor  were  cherished  by  those  near- 
est to  his  person;  and  he  was  often  himself  aware  of 
them,  though  it  was  not  until  they  approached  an  ex- 
plosion that  he  dared  act  upon  his  knowledge  and 
punish  the  conspirators. 

The  whole  treason  of  the  Caesar,  with  his  associates, 
Agelastes  and  Achilles  Tatius,  was  heard  by  the 
Patriarch  with  wonder  and  astonishment,  and  he  was 
particularly  surprised  at  the  dexterity  with  which  the 
Emperor,  knowing  the  existence  of  so  dangerous  a  con- 
spiracy at  home,  had  been  able  to  parry  the  danger  from 
the  crusaders  occurring  at  the  same  moment. 

*In  that  respect,'  said  the  Emperor,  to  whom  indeed 
the  churchman  hinted  his  surprise,  '  I  have  been  singu- 
larly unfortunate.  Had  I  been  secure  of  the  forces  of  my 
own  empire,  I  might  have  taken  one  out  of  two  manly 
and  open  courses  with  these  frantic  warriors  of  the 
West:  I  might,  my  reverend  father,  have  devoted  the 
sums  paid  to  Bohemond  and  other  of  the  more  selfish 
among  the  crusaders  to  the  honest  and  open  support  of 
the  army  of  Western  Christians,  and  safely  transported 
them  to  Palestine,  without  exposing  them  to  the  great 
loss  which  they  are  likely  to  sustain  by  the  opposition  of 
the  infidels;  their  success  would  have  been  in  fact  my 
own,  and  a  Latin  kingdom  in  Palestine,  defended  by  its 
steel-clad  warriors,  would  have  been  a  safe  and  unex- 
pugnable  barrier  of  the  empire  against  the  Saracens, 
Or,  if  it  was  thought  more  expedient  for  the  protection 
of  the  empire  and  the  holy  church,  over  which  you  are 
ruler,  we  might  at  once,  and  by  open  force,  have  de- 

38 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

fended  the  frontiers  of  our  states  against  a  host  com- 
manded by  so  many  different  and  discording  chiefs,  and 
advancing  upon  us  with  such  equivocal  intentions.  If 
the  first  swarm  of  these  locusts,  under  him  whom  they 
called  Walter  the  Penniless,  was  thinned  by  the  Hun- 
garians, and  totally  destroyed  by  the  Turks,  as  the 
pyramids  of  bones  on  the  frontiers  of  the  country  still 
keep  in  memory,  surely  the  united  forces  of  the  Grecian 
empire  would  have  had  Uttle  difficulty  in  scattering  this 
second  flight,  though  commanded  by  these  Godfreys, 
Bohemonds,  and  Tancreds.' 

The  Patriarch  was  silent,  for  though  he  disliked 
or  rather  detested,  the  crusaders,  as  members  of  the 
Latin  Church,  he  yet  thought  it  highly  doubtful  that  in 
feats  of  battle  they  could  have  been  met  and  overcome 
by  the  Grecian  forces. 

*At  any  rate,'  said  Alexius,  rightly  interpreting  his 
silence,  'if  vanquished,  I  had  fallen  under  my  shield  as  a 
Greek  emperor  should,  nor  had  I  been  forced  into  these 
mean  measures  of  attacking  men  by  stealth,  and  with 
forces  disguised  as  infidels;  while  the  lives  of  the  faithful 
soldiers  of  the  empire,  who  have  fallen  in  obscure  skir- 
mishes, had  better,  both  for  them  and  me,  been  lost 
bravely  in  their  ranks,  avowedly  fighting  for  their  native 
emperor  and  their  native  country.  Now,  and  as  the 
matter  stands,  I  shall  be  handed  down  to  posterity  as  a 
wily  tyrant,  who  engaged  his  subjects  in  fatal  feuds  for 
the  safety  of  his  own  obscure  life.  Patriarch,  these  crimes 
rest  not  with  me,  but  with  the  rebels  whose  intrigues 
compelled  mc  into  such  courses.  What,  reverend  father, 
will  be  my  fate  hereafter,  and  in  what  light  shall  I 
descend  to  posterity,  the  author  of  so  many  disasters?' 

39 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'For  futurity/  said  the  Patriarch,  'your  Grace  hath 
referred  yourself  to  the  holy  church,  which  hath  power 
to  bind  and  to  loose;  your  means  of  propitiating  her  are 
ample,  and  I  have  already  indicated  such  as  she  may 
reasonably  expect,  in  consequence  of  your  repentance 
and  forgiveness.' 

'They  shall  be  granted,'  replied  the  Emperor,  'in  their 
fullest  extent;  nor  will  I  injure  you  in  doubting  their 
effect  in  the  next  world.  In  this  present  state  of  exist- 
ence, however,  the  favourable  opinion  of  the  church  may 
do  much  for  me  during  this  important  crisis.  If  we 
understand  each  other,  good  Zosimus,  her  doctors  and 
bishops  are  to  thunder  in  my  behalf,  nor  is  my  benefit 
from  her  pardon  to  be  deferred  till  the  funeral  monu- 
ment closes  upon  me?' 

'Certainly  not,'  said  Zosimus,  'the  conditions  which 
I  have  already  stipulated  being  strictly  attended  to.' 

'And  my  memory  in  history,'  said  Alexius,  'in  what 
manner  is  that  to  be  preserved? ' 

'For  that,'  answered  the  Patriarch,  'your  Imperial 
Majesty  must  trust  to  the  filial  piety  and  literary 
talents  of  your  accomplished  daughter,  Anna  Com- 
nena.' 

The  Emperor  shook  his  head.  '  This  unhappy  Caesar,' 
he  said,  'is  Hke  to  make  a  quarrel  between  us;  for  I  shall 
scarce  pardon  so  ungrateful  a  rebel  as  he  is  because  my 
daughter  clings  to  him  with  a  woman's  fondness.  Be- 
sides, good  Zosimus,  it  is  not,  I  believe,  the  page  of  a 
historian  such  as  my  daughter  that  is  most  likely  to 
be  received  without  challenge  by  posterity.  Some  Proco- 
pius,  some  philosophical  slave,  starving  in  a  garret,  as- 
pires to  write  the  life  of  an  emperor  when  he  durst  not 

40 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

approach;  and  although  the  principal  merit  of  his  pro- 
duction be  that  it  contains  particulars  upon  the  subject 
which  no  man  durst  have  promulgated  while  the  prince 
was  living,  yet  no  man  hesitates  to  admit  such  as  true 
when  he  has  passed  from  the  scene.' 

'On  that  subject/  said  Zosimus,  'I  can  neither  afford 
your  Imperial  Majesty  relief  or  protection.  If,  however, 
your  memory  is  unjustly  slandered  upon  earth,  it  will  be 
a  matter  of  indifference  to  your  Highness,  who  will  be 
then,  I  trust,  enjoying  a  state  of  beatitude  which  idle 
slander  cannot  assail.  The  only  way,  indeed,  to  avoid 
it  while  on  this  side  of  time  would  be  to  write  your 
Majesty's  own  memoirs  while  you  are  yet  in  the 
body;  so  convinced  am  I  that  it  is  in  your  power  to 
assign  legitimate  excuses  for  those  actions  of  your  Hfe 
which,  without  your  doing  so,  would  seem  most  worthy 
of  censure.' 

*  Change  we  the  subject,'  said  the  Emperor;  'and  since 
the  danger  is  imminent,  let  us  take  care  for  the  present, 
and  leave  future  ages  to  judge  for  themselves.  What 
circumstance  is  it,  reverend  father,  in  your  opinion, 
which  encourages  these  conspirators  to  make  so  auda- 
cious an  appeal  to  the  populace  and  the  Grecian  sol- 
diers? ' 

'Certainly,'  answered  the  Patriarch,  'the  most  irritat- 
ing incident  of  your  Highness's  reign  was  the  fate  of 
Ursel,  who,  submitting,  it  is  said,  upon  capitulation,  for 
life,  limb,  and  liberty,  was  starved  to  death  by  your 
orders  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Blacquernal,  and  whose 
courage,  Uberality,  and  other  popular  virtues  are  still 
fondly  remembered  by  the  citizens  of  this  metropolis, 
and  by  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  called  Immortal.' 

41. 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'And  this,'  said  the  Emperor,  fixing  his  eye  upon  his 
confessor,  'your  reverence  esteems  actually  the  most 
dangerous  point  of  the  popular  tvmiult? ' 

'I  cannot  doubt,'  said  the  Patriarch,  'that  his  very 
name,  boldly  pronounced  and  artfully  repeated,  will 
be  the  watchword,  as  has  been  plotted,  of  a  horrible 
tumult.' 

'  I  thank  Heaven ! '  said  the  Emperor,  'on  that  particu- 
lar I  will  be  on  my  guard.  Good-night  to  your  reverence; 
and  believe  me  that  all  in  this  scroll,  to  which  I  have  set 
my  hand,  shall  be  with  the  utmost  fidelity  accomplished. 
Be  not,  however,  over-impatient  in  this  business:  such  a 
shower  of  benefits  falling  at  once  upon  the  church  would 
make  men  suspicious  that  the  prelates  and  ministers 
proceeded  rather  as  acting  upon  a  bargain  between  the 
Emperor  and  Patriarch  than  as  paying  or  receiving  an 
atonement  offered  by  a  sinner  in  excuse  of  his  crimes. 
This  would  be  injurious,  father,  both  to  yourself  and 
me.' 

'All  regular  delay,'  said  the  Patriarch,  'shall  be  inter- 
posed at  your  Highness's  pleasure;  and  we  shall  trust 
to  you  for  recollection  that  the  bargain,  if  it  could  be 
termed  one,  was  of  your  own  seeking,  and  that  the 
benefit  to  the  church  was  contingent  upon  the  par- 
don and  the  support  which  she  has  afforded  to  your 
Majesty.' 

'True,'  said  the  Emperor  —  'most  true;  nor  shall  I 
forget  it.  Once  more  adieu,  and  forget  not  what  I  have 
told  thee.  This  is  a  night,  Zosimus,  in  which  the 
Emperor  must  toil  like  a  slave,  if  he  means  not  to  return 
to  the  humble  Alexius  Comnenus,  and  even  then  there 
were  no  resting-place.' 

42 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

So  saying,  he  took  leave  of  the  Patriarch,  who  was 
highly  gratified  with  the  advantages  he  had  obtained 
for  the  church,  which  many  of  his  predecessors  had 
struggled  for  in  vain.  He  resolved,  therefore,  to  support 
the  staggering  Alexius. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

Heaven  knows  its  time;  the  bullet  has  its  billet, 
Arrow  anil  javelin  each  its  destined  purpose; 
The  fated  beasts  of  nature's  lower  strain 
Have  each  their  separate  task. 

Old  Play. 

Agelastes,  after  crossing  the  Emperor  in  the  manner 
we  have  already  described,  and  after  having  taken  such 
measures  as  occurred  to  him  to  ensure  the  success  of  the 
conspiracy,  returned  to  the  lodge  of  his  garden,  where 
the  lady  of  the  Count  of  Paris  still  remained,  her  only 
companion  being  an  old  woman  named  Vexhelia,  the  wife 
of  the  soldier  who  accompanied  Bertha  to  the  camp  of 
the  crusaders,  the  kind-hearted  maiden  having  stipu- 
lated that,  during  her  absence,  her  mistress  was  not  to 
be  left  without  an  attendant,  and  that  attendant  con- 
nected with  the  Varangian  Guard.  He  had  been  all  day 
playing  the  part  of  the  ambitious  poHtician,  the  selfish 
time-server,  the  dark  and  subtle  conspirator;  and  now 
it  seemed,  as  if  to  exhaust  the  catalogue  of  his  various 
parts  in  the  human  drama,  he  chose  to  exhibit  himself 
in  the  character  of  the  wily  sophist,  and  justify,  or  seem 
to  justify,  the  arts  by  which  he  had  risen  to  wealth  and 
eminence,  and  hoped  even  now  to  arise  to  royalty  itself. 

'Fair  countess,'  he  said,  'what  occasion  is  there  for 
your  wearing  this  veil  of  sadness  over  a  countenance  so 
lovely? ' 

'Do  you  suppose  me,'  said  Brenhilda,  'a  stock,  a  stone, 
or  a  creature  without  the  feelings  of  a  sensitive  being, 

44 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

that  I  should  endure  mortification,  imprisonment,  dan- 
ger, and  distress,  without  expressing  the  natural  feelings 
of  humanity?  Do  you  imagine  that  to  a  lady  like  me,  as 
free  as  the  unreclaimed  falcon,  you  can  ofEer  the  insult 
of  captivity,  without  my  being  sensible  to  the  disgrace, 
or  incensed  against  the  authors  of  it?  And  dost  thou 
think  that  I  will  receive  consolation  at  thy  hands  —  at 
thine  —  one  of  the  most  active  artificers  in  this  web  of 
treachery  in  which  I  am  so  basely  entangled? ' 

'Not  entangled  certainly  by  my  means,'  answered 
Agelastes;  'clap  your  hands,  call  for  what  you  wish,  and 
the  slave  who  refuses  instant  obedience  had  better  been 
unborn.  Had  I  not,  with  reference  to  your  safety  and 
your  honour,  agreed  for  a  short  time  to  be  your  keeper, 
that  office  would  have  been  usurped  by  the  Caesar, 
whose  object  you  know,  and  may  partly  guess  the  modes 
by  which  it  would  be  pursued.  Why  then  dost  thou 
childishly  weep  at  being  held  for  a  short  space  in  an  hon- 
ourable restraint,  which  the  renowned  arms  of  your  hus- 
band will  probably  put  an  end  to  long  ere  to-morrow  at 
noon? ' 

'Canst  thou  not  comprehend,'  said  the  Countess, 
'thou  man  of  many  words,  but  of  few  honourable 
thoughts,  that  a  heart  Hke  mine,  which  has  been  trained 
in  the  feelings  of  reliance  upon  my  own  worth  and  valour, 
must  be  necessarily  affected  with  shame  at  being  obliged 
to  accept,  even  from  the  sword  of  a  husband,  that  safety 
which  I  would  gladly  have  owed  only  to  my  own? ' 

'Thou  art  misled,  Countess,'  answered  the  philoso- 
pher, 'by  thy  pride,  a  failing  predominant  in  woman. 
Thinkest  thou  there  has  been  no  offensive  assumi^tion 
in  laying  aside  the  character  of  a  mother  and  a  wife,  and 

45 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

adopting  that  of  one  of  those  brain-sick  female  fools 
who,  like  the  bravoes  of  the  other  sex,  sacrifice  every- 
thing that  is  honourable  or  useful  to  a  frantic  and  in- 
sane affectation  of  courage?  BeHeve  me,  fair  lady,  that 
the  true  system  of  virtue  consists  in  filling  thine  own 
place  gracefully  in  society,  breeding  up  thy  children,  and 
delighting  those  of  the  other  sex;  and  anything  beyond 
this  may  well  render  thee  hateful  or  terrible,  but  can  add 
nothing  to  thy  amiable  qualities.' 

'Thou  pretendest,'  said  the  Countess,  *  to  be  a  philos- 
opher; methinks  thou  shouldst  know  that  the  fame 
which  hangs  its  chaplet  on  the  tomb  of  a  brave  hero  or 
heroine  is  worth  all  the  petty  engagements  in  which 
ordinary  persons  spend  the  current  of  their  time.  One 
hour  of  life,  crowned  to  the  full  with  glorious  action,  and 
filled  with  noble  risks,  is  worth  whole  years  of  those 
mean  observances  of  paltry  decorum  in  which  men  steal 
through  existence,  like  sluggish  waters  through  a  marsh, 
without  either  honour  or  observation.' 

'Daughter,'  said  Agelastes,  approaching  nearer  to  the 
lady, '  it  is  with  pain  I  see  you  bewildered  in  errors  which 
a  little  calm  reflection  might  remove.  We  may  flatter 
ourselves,  and  human  vanity  usually  does  so,  that  beings 
infinitely  more  powerful  than  those  belonging  to  mere 
himianity  are  employed  daily  in  measuring  out  the  good 
and  evil  of  this  world,  the  termination  of  combats,  or  the 
fate  of  empires,  according  to  their  own  ideas  of  what  is 
right  or  wrong,  or,  more  properly,  according  to  what  we 
ourselves  conceive  to  be  such.  The  Greek  heathens, 
renowned  for  their  wisdom  and  glorious  for  their  actions, 
explained  to  men  of  ordinary  minds  the  supposed  exist- 
ence of  Jupiter  and  his  pantheon,  where  various  deities 

46 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

presided  over  various  virtues  and  vices,  and  regulated 
the  temporal  fortune  and  future  happiness  of  such  as 
practised  them.  The  more  learned  and  wise  of  the 
ancients  rejected  such  the  vulgar  interpretation,  and 
wisely,  although  affecting  a  deference  to  the  public 
faith,  denied  before  their  disciples  in  private  the  gross 
fallacies  of  Tartarus  and  Olympus,  the  vain  doctrines 
concerning  the  gods  themselves,  and  the  extravagant 
expectations  which  the  vulgar  entertained  of  an  immor- 
tality supposed  to  be  possessed  by  creatures  who  were 
in  every  respect  mortal,  both  in  the  conformation  of 
their  bodies  and  in  the  internal  belief  of  their  souls.  Of 
these  wise  and  good  men  some  granted  the  existence  of 
the  supposed  deities,  but  denied  that  they  cared  about 
the  actions  of  mankind  any  more  than  those  of  the  infe- 
rior animals.  A  merry,  jovial,  careless  life,  such  as  the 
followers  of  Epicurus  would  choose  for  themselves,  was 
what  they  assigned  for  those  gods  whose  being  they 
admitted.  Others,  more  bold  or  more  consistent,  entirely 
denied  the  existence  of  deities  who  apparently  had  no 
proper  object  or  purpose,  and  believed  that  such  of  them 
whose  being  and  attributes  were  proved  to  us  by  no 
supernatural  appearances  had  in  reality  no  existence 
whatever.' 

'Stop,  wretch!'  said  the  Countess,  'and  know  that 
thou  speakest  not  to  one  of  those  blinded  heathens  of 
whose  abominable  doctrines  you  are  detailing  the  result. 
Know  that,  if  an  erring,  I  am  nevertheless  a  sincere, 
daughter  of  the  church,  and  this  cross  displayed  on  my 
shoulder  is  a  sufficient  emblem  of  the  vows  I  have  under- 
taken in  its  cause.  Be  therefore  wary,  as  thou  art  wily; 
for,  believe  me,  if  thou  scoffest  or  uttercst  reproach 

47 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

against  my  holy  religion,  what  I  am  unable  to  answer  in 
language  I  will  reply  to,  without  hesitation,  with  the 
point  of  my  dagger.' 

'To  that  argument,'  said  Agelastes,  drawing  back 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  Brenhilda,  'believe  me,  fair 
lady,  I  am  very  unwilling  to  urge  your  gentleness.  But, 
although  I  shall  not  venture  to  say  anything  of  those 
superior  and  benevolent  powers  to  whom  you  ascribe 
the  management  of  the  world,  you  will  surely  not  take 
offence  at  my  noticing  those  base  superstitions  which 
have  been  adopted  in  explanation  of  what  is  called  by 
the  Magi  the  Evil  Principle.  Was  there  ever  received 
into  a  human  creed  a  being  so  mean  —  almost  so  ridicu- 
lous —  as  the  Christian  Satan?  A  goatish  figure  and 
limbs,  with  grotesque  features,  formed  to  express  the 
most  execrable  passions;  a  degree  of  power  scarce  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  Deity;  and  a  talent  at  the  same 
time  scarce  equal  to  that  of  the  stupidest  of  the  lowest 
order!  What  is  he,  this  being,  who  is  at  least  the  second 
arbiter  of  the  human  race,  save  an  immortal  spirit, 
with  the  petty  spleen  and  spite  of  a  vindictive  old  man 
or  old  woman? ' 

Agelastes  made  a  singular  pause  in  this  part  of  his  dis- 
course. A  mirror  of  considerable  size  hung  in  the  apart- 
ment, so  that  the  philosopher  could  see  in  its  reflection 
the  figure  of  Brenhilda,  and  remark  the  change  of  her 
countenance,  though  she  had  averted  her  face  from  him 
in  hatred  of  the  doctrines  which  he  promulgated.  On 
this  glass  the  philosopher  had  his  eyes  naturally  fixed, 
and  he  was  confounded  at  perceiving  a  figure  glide 
from  behind  the  shadow  of  a  curtain,  and  glare  at 
him  with   the  supposed  mien  and  expression  of   the 

48 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Satan  of  monkish  mythology,  or  a  satyr  of  the  heathen 
age. 

'Man!'  said  Brenhilda,  whose  attention  was  attracted 
by  this  extraordinary  apparition,  as  it  seemed,  of  the 
Fiend,  'have  thy  wicked  words,  and  still  more  wicked 
thoughts,  brought  the  Devil  amongst  us?  If  so,  dismiss 
him  instantly,  else,  by  Our  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances! 
thou  shalt  know  better  than  at  present  what  is  the  tem- 
per of  a  Frankish  maiden  when  in  presence  of  the  Fiend 
himself,  and  those  who  pretend  skill  to  raise  him.  I  wish 
not  to  enter  into  a  contest  unless  compelled;  but  if  I  am 
obliged  to  join  battle  with  an  enemy  so  horrible,  believe 
me,  no  one  shall  say  that  Brenhilda  feared  him.' 

Agelastes,  after  looking  with  surprise  and  horror  at 
the  figure  as  reflected  in  the  glass,  turned  back  his  head 
to  examine  the  substance,  of  which  the  reflection  was  so 
strange.  The  object,  however,  had  disappeared  behind 
the  curtain,  under  which  it  probably  lay  hid,  and  it  was 
after  a  minute  or  two  that  the  half-gibing,  half-scowling 
countenance  showed  itself  again  in  the  same  position 
in  the  mirror. 

'By  the  gods  — !'  said  Agelastes. 

'In  whom  but  now,'  said  the  Countess,  'you  pro- 
fessed unbelief.' 

'By  the  gods!'  repeated  Agelastes,  in  part  recovering 
himself,  'it  is  Sylvan,  that  singular  mockery  of  human- 
ity, who  was  said  to  have  been  brought  from  Taprobana. 
I  warrant  he  also  believes  in  his  jolly  god  Pan,  or  the 
veteran  Sylvanus.  He  is  to  the  uninitiated  a  creature 
whose  appearance  is  full  of  terrors,  but  he  shrinks  before 
the  philosopher  like  ignorance  before  knowledge.'  So 
saying,  he  with  one  hand  pulled  down  the  curtain,  under 

44  49 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

which  the  animal  had  nestled  itself  when  it  entered  from 
the  garden-window  of  the  pavilion,  and  with  the  other, 
in  which  he  had  a  staff  uplifted,  threatened  to  chastise 
the  creature,  with  the  words  —  '  How  now,  Sylvanus ! 
what  insolence  is  this?  To  your  place!' 

As,  in  uttering  these  words,  he  struck  the  animal,  the 
blow  unluckily  lighted  upon  his  wounded  hand,  and 
recalled  its  bitter  smart.  The  wild  temper  of  the  crea- 
ture returned,  unsubdued  for  the  moment  by  any  awe 
of  man;  uttering  a  fierce,  and  at  the  same  time  stifled, 
cry,  it  flew  on  the  philosopher,  and  clasped  its  strong 
and  sinewy  arms  about  his  throat  with  the  utmost  fury. 
The  old  man  twisted  and  struggled  to  deliver  himself 
from  the  creature's  grasp,  but  in  vain.  Sylvan  kept  hold 
of  his  prize,  compressed  his  sinewy  arms,  and  abode  by 
his  purpose  of  not  quitting  his  hold  of  the  philosopher's 
throat  until  he  had  breathed  his  last.  Two  more  bitter 
yells,  accompanied  each  with  a  desperate  contortion  of 
the  countenance  and  squeeze  of  the  hands,  concluded,  in 
less  than  five  minutes,  the  dreadful  strife. 

Agelastes  lay  dead  upon  the  ground,  and  his  assassin 
Sylvan,  springing  from  the  body  as  if  terrified  and 
alarmed  at  what  he  had  done,  made  his  escape  by  the 
window.  The  Countess  stood  in  astonishment,  not 
knowing  exactly  whether  she  had  witnessed  a  supernat- 
ural display  of  the  judgment  of  Heaven  or  an  instance 
of  its  vengeance  by  mere  mortal  means.  Her  new  at- 
tendant Vexhelia  was  no  less  astonislied,  though  her 
acquaintance  with  the  animal  was  considerably  more 
intimate. 

'Lady,'  she  said,  'that  gigantic  creature  is  an  animal 
of  great  strength,  resembhng  mankind  in  form,  but  huge 

so 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

in  its  size,  and,  encouraged  by  its  immense  power,  some- 
times malevolent  in  its  intercourse  with  mortals.  I  have 
heard  the  Varangians  often  talk  of  it  as  belonging  to 
the  imperial  museum.  It  is  fitting  we  remove  the  body 
of  this  unhappy  man,  and  hide  it  in  a  plot  of  shrubbery 
in  the  garden.  It  is  not  likely  that  he  will  be  missed  to- 
night, and  to-morrow  there  will  be  other  matter  astir, 
which  will  probably  prevent  much  inquiry  about  him.' 
The  Countess  Brenhilda  assented,  for  she  was  not  one 
of  those  timorous  females  to  whom  the  countenances  of 
the  dead  are  objects  of  terror. 

Trusting  to  the  parole  which  she  had  given,  Agelastes 
had  permitted  the  Countess  and  her  attendant  the  free- 
dom of  his  gardens,  of  that  part  at  least  adjacent  to  the 
pavilion.  They  therefore  were  in  little  risk  of  interrup- 
tion as  they  bore  forth  the  dead  body  between  them, 
and  without  much  trouble  disposed  of  it  in  the  thickest 
part  of  one  of  the  bosquets  with  which  the  garden  was 
studded. 

As  they  returned  to  their  place  of  abode  or  confine- 
ment, the  Countess,  half  speaking  to  herself,  half  ad- 
dressing Vexhelia,  said  —  *  I  am  sorry  for  this ;  not  that 
the  infamous  wretch  did  not  deserve  the  full  punishment 
of  Heaven  coming  upon  him  in  the  very  moment  of 
blasphemy  and  infidelity,  but  because  the  courage  and 
truth  of  the  unfortunate  Brenhilda  may  be  brought  into 
suspicion,  as  his  slaughter  took  place  when  he  was  alone 
with  her  and  her  attendant,  and  as  no  one  was  witness  of 
the  singular  manner  in  which  the  old  blasphemer  met  his 
end.  Thou  knowest,'  she  added,  addressing  herself  to 
Heaven  —  'thou!  blessed  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances, 
the  protectress  both  of  Brenhilda  and  her  husband,  well 

SI 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

knowest  that,  whatever  faults  may  be  mine,  I  am  free 
from  the  slightest  suspicion  of  treachery;  and  into  thy 
hands  I  put  my  cause,  with  a  perfect  reliance  upon  thy 
wisdom  and  bounty  to  bear  evidence  in  my  favour.'  So 
saying,  they  returned  to  the  lodge  unseen,  and  with 
pious  and  submissive  prayers  the  Countess  closed  that 
eventful  evening. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


Wil!  you  hear  of  a  Spanish  lady. 

How  she  wooed  an  Englishman  ? 
Garments  gay,  as  rich  as  may  be, 
Deck'd  with  jewels  she  had  on. 
Of  a  comely  countenance  and  grace  was  she, 
And  by  birth  and  parentage  of  high  degree. 

Old  Ballad. 


We  left  Alexius  Comnenus  after  he  had  unloaded  his 
conscience  in  the  ears  of  the  Patriarch,  and  received  from 
him  a  faithful  assurance  of  the  pardon  and  patronage 
of  the  national  church.  He  took  leave  of  the  dignitary 
with  some  exulting  exclamations,  so  unexphcitly  ex- 
pressed, however,  that  it  was  by  no  means  easy  to  con- 
ceive the  meaning  of  what  he  said.  His  first  inquiry, 
when  he  reached  the  Blacquernal,  being  for  his  daughter, 
he  was  directed  to  the  room  encrusted  with  beautifully 
carved  marble,  from  which  she  herself,  and  many  of  her 
race,  derived  the  proud  appellation  of  porphyrogenita,  or 
born  in  the  purple.  Her  coimtenance  was  clouded  with 
anxiety,  which,  at  the  sight  of  her  father,  broke  out  into 
open  and  uncontrollable  grief. 

'Daughter,'  said  the  Emperor,  with  a  harshness  little 
common  to  his  manner,  and  a  seriousness  which  he 
sternly  maintained,  instead  of  sympathising  with  his 
daughter's  affliction,  *as  you  would  prevent  the  silly  fool 
with  whom  you  are  connected  from  displaying  himself  to 
the  public  both  as  an  ungrateful  monster  and  a  traitor, 
you  will  not  fail  to  exhort  him,  by  due  submission,  to 
make  his  petition  for  pardon,  accompanied  with  a  full 

5S 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

confession  of  his  crimes,  or,  by  my  sceptre  and  my 
crown,  he  shall  die  the  death!  Nor  will  I  pardon  any 
who  rushes  upon  his  doom  in  an  open  tone  of  defiance, 
under  such  a  standard  of  rebellion  as  my  ungrateful 
son-in-law  has  hoisted.' 

'What  can  you  require  of  me,  father?'  said  the  Prin- 
cess. '  Can  you  expect  that  I  am  to  dip  my  own  hands 
in  the  blood  of  this  unfortimate  man;  or  wilt  thou  seek  a 
revenge  yet  more  bloody  than  that  which  was  exacted 
by  the  deities  of  antiquity  upon  those  criminals  who 
ofif ended  against  their  divine  power? ' 

*  Think  not  so,  my  daughter,'  said  the  Emperor;  'but 
rather  believe  that  thou  hast  the  last  opportunity  af- 
forded by  my  filial  affection  of  rescuing,  perhaps  from 
death,  that  silly  fool  thy  husband,  who  has  so  richly 
deserved  it.' 

'My  father,'  said  the  Princess,  'God  knows  it  is  not 
at  your  risk  that  I  would  wish  to  purchase  the  life  of 
Nicephorus;  but  he  has  been  the  father  of  my  children, 
though  they  are  now  no  more,  and  women  cannot  forget 
that  such  a  tie  has  existed,  even  though  it  has  been 
broken  by  fate.  Permit  me  only  to  hope  that  the  unfor- 
tunate culprit  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  retrieving 
his  errors;  nor  shall  it,  believe  me,  be  my  fault  if  he 
resumes  those  practices,  treasonable  at  once  and  unnatu- 
ral, by  which  his  life  is  at  present  endangered.' 

'Follow  me,  then,  daughter,'  said  the  Emperor,  'and 
know,  that  to  thee  alone  I  am  about  to  entrust  a  secret, 
upon  which  the  safety  of  my  life  and  crown,  as  well  as 
the  pardon  of  my  son-in-law's  life,  will  be  found  even- 
tually to  depend.' 

He  then  assumed  in  haste  the  garment  of  a  slave  of  the 

54 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

seraglio,  and  commanded  his  daughter  to  arrange  her 
dress  in  a  more  succinct  form,  and  to  take  in  her  hand 
a  lighted  lamp. 

'Whither  are  we  going,  my  father?'  said  Anna 
Comnena. 

'It  matters  not,'  replied  her  father,  'since  my  destiny 
calls  me,  and  since  thine  ordains  thee  to  be  my  torch- 
bearer.  Believe  it,  and  record  it,  if  thou  darest,  in  thy 
book,  that  Alexius  Comnenus  does  not,  without  alarm, 
descend  into  those  awful  dungeons  which  his  predeces- 
sors built  for  men,  even  when  his  intentions  are  innocent 
and  free  from  harm.  Be  silent,  and  should  we  meet  any 
inhabitant  of  those  inferior  regions,  speak  not  a  word, 
nor  make  any  observation  upon  his  appearance.' 

Passing  through  the  intricate  apartments  of  the  pal- 
ace, they  now  came  to  that  large  hall  through  which 
Hereward  had  passed  on  the  first  night  of  his  introduc- 
tion to  the  place  of  Anna's  recitation,  called  the  temple 
of  the  Muses.  It  was  constructed,  as  we  have  said,  of 
black  marble,  dimly  illuminated.  At  the  upper  end  of 
the  apartment  was  a  small  altar,  on  which  was  laid  some 
incense,  while  over  the  smoke  were  suspended,  as  if  pro- 
jecting from  the  wall,  two  imitations  of  human  hands 
and  arms,  which  were  but  imperfectly  seen. 

At  the  bottom  of  this  hall,  a  small  iron  door  led  to  a 
narrow  and  winding  staricase,  resembling  a  draw-well 
in  shape  and  size,  the  steps  of  which  were  excessively 
steep,  and  which  the  Emperor,  after  a  solemn  gesture  to 
his  daughter  commanding  her  attendance,  began  to  de- 
scend with  the  imperfect  light,  and  by  the  narrow  and 
difficult  steps  by  which  those  who  visited  the  under 
regions  of  the  Blacquernal  seemed  to  bid  adieu  to  the 

55 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

light  of  day.  Door  after  door  they  passed  in  their 
descent,  leading,  it  was  probable,  to  different  ranges  of 
dungeons,  from  which  was  obscurely  heard  the  stifled 
voice  of  groans  and  sighs,  such  as  attracted  Hereward's 
attention  on  a  former  occasion.  The  Emperor  took  no 
notice  of  these  signs  of  human  misery,  and  three  stories, 
or  ranges  of  dungeons,  had  been  already  passed,  ere  the 
father  and  daughter  arrived  at  the  lowest  story  of  the 
building,  the  base  of  which  was  the  solid  rock,  roughly 
carved,  upon  which  were  erected  the  side- walls  and 
arches  of  solid  but  unpolished  marble, 

'Here,'  said  Alexius  Comnenus,  'all  hope,  all  expecta- 
tion takes  farewell,  at  the  turn  of  a  hinge  or  the  grating 
of  a  lock.  Yet  shall  not  this  be  always  the  case:  the  dead 
shall  revive  and  resume  their  right,  and  the  disinherited 
of  these  regions  shall  again  prefer  their  claim  to  inhabit 
the  upper  world.  If  I  cannot  entreat  Heaven  to  my 
assistance,  be  assured,  my  daughter,  that  rather  than 
be  the  poor  animal  which  I  have  stooped  to  be  thought, 
and  even  to  be  painted  in  thy  history,  I  would  sooner 
brave  every  danger  of  the  multitude  which  now  erect 
themselves  betwixt  me  and  safety.  Nothing  is  resolved 
save  that  I  will  live  and  die  an  emperor;  and  thou,  Anna, 
be  assured  that,  if  there  is  power  in  the  beauty  or  in  the 
talents  of  which  so  much  has  been  boasted,  that  power 
shall  be  this  evening  exercised  to  the  advantage  of  thy 
parent,  from  whom  it  is  derived.' 

'What  is  it  that  you  mean,  imperial  father?  Holy 
Virgin !  is  this  the  promise  you  made  me  to  save  the  life 
of  the  unfortunate  Nicephorus? ' 

'  And  so  I  will,'  said  the  Emperor ;  *  and  I  am  now  about 
that  action  of  benevolence.    But  think  not  I  will  once 

S6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

more  warm  in  my  bosom  the  household  snake  which  had 
so  nearly  stung  me  to  death.  No,  daughter,  I  have  pro- 
vided for  thee  a  fitting  husband,  in  one  who  is  able  to 
maintain  and  defend  the  rights  of  the  Emperor  thy 
father;  and  beware  how  thou  opposest  an  obstacle  to 
what  is  my  pleasure!  for  behold  these  walls  of  marble, 
though  unpolished,  and  recollect  it  is  as  possible  to  die 
within  the  marble  as  to  be  born  there.' 

The  Princess  Anna  Comnena  was  frightened  at  seeing 
her  father  in  a  state  of  mind  entirely  different  from  any 
which  she  had  before  witnessed.  *0,  Heaven!  that  my 
mother  were  here!'  she  ejaculated,  in  the  terror  of  some- 
thing she  hardly  knew  what. 

'Anna,'  said  the  Emperor,  'your  fears  and  your 
screams  are  alike  in  vain.  I  am  one  of  those  who,  on 
ordinary  occasions,  hardly  nourish  a  wish  of  my  own, 
and  accoxmt  myself  obliged  to  those  who,  like  my  wife 
and  daughter,  take  care  to  save  me  all  the  trouble  of 
free  judgment.  But  when  the  vessel  is  among  the 
breakers,  and  the  master  is  called  to  the  helm,  believe 
that  no  meaner  hand  shall  be  permitted  to  interfere  with 
him,  nor  will  the  wife  and  daughter  whom  he  indulged 
in  prosperity  be  allowed  to  thwart  his  will  while  he  can 
yet  call  it  his  own.  Thou  couldst  scarcely  fail  to  under- 
stand that  I  was  almost  prepared  to  have  given  thee  as 
a  mark  of  my  sincerity  to  yonder  obscure  Varangian, 
without  asking  question  of  either  birth  or  blood.  Thou 
mayst  hear  when  I  next  promise  thee  to  a  three  years' 
inhabitant  of  these  vaults,  who  shall  be  Cassar  in 
Briennius's  stead,  if  I  can  move  him  to  accept  a  princess 
for  his  bride,  and  an  imperial  crown  for  his  inheritance, 
in  place  of  a  starving  dungeon.' 

57 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*  I  tremble  at  your  words,  father/  said  Anna  Comnena. 
'How  canst  thou  trust  a  man  who  has  felt  thy  cruelty? 
How  canst  thou  dream  that  aught  can  ever  in  sincerity 
reconcile  thee  to  one  whom  thou  hast  deprived  of  his 
eyesight? ' 

'Care  not  for  that,'  said  Alexius;  'he  becomes  mine, 
or  he  shall  never  know  what  it  is  to  be  again  his  own. 
And  thou,  girl,  mayst  rest  assured  that,  if  I  will  it,  thou 
art  next  day  the  bride  of  my  present  captive,  or  thou 
retirest  to  the  most  severe  nunnery,  never  again  to  mix 
with  society.  Be  silent,  therefore,  and  await  thy  doom, 
as  it  shall  come,  and  hope  not  that  thy  utmost  endeav- 
ours can  avert  the  current  of  thy  destiny.' 

As  he  concluded  this  singular  dialogue,  in  which  he 
had  assumed  a  tone  to  which  his  daughter  was  a 
stranger,  and  before  which  she  trembled,  he  passed  on 
through  more  than  one  strictly  fastened  door,  while  his 
daughter,  with  a  faltering  step,  illuminated  him  on  the 
obscure  road.  At  length  he  found  admittance  by  another 
passage  into  the  cell  in  which  Ursel  was  confined,  and 
found  him  reclining  in  hopeless  misery,  all  those  expec- 
tations having  faded  from  his  heart  which  the  Count  of 
Paris  had  by  his  indomitable  gallantry  for  a  time  ex- 
cited. He  turned  his  sightless  eyes  towards  the  place 
where  he  heard  the  moving  of  bolts  and  the  approach 
of  steps. 

'A  new  feature,'  he  said,  'in  my  imprisonment  —  a 
man  comes  with  heavy  and  determined  step,  and  a 
woman  or  a  child  with  one  that  scarcely  presses  the 
floor!  Is  it  my  death  that  you  bring?  Believe  me,  that  I 
have  lived  long  enough  in  these  dungeons  to  bid  my 
doom  welcome.' 

58 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'It  is  not  thy  death,  noble  Ursel,'  said  the  Emperor, 
in  a  voice  somewhat  disguised.  *Life,  Hberty,  whatever 
the  world  has  to  give,  is  placed  by  the  Emperor  Alexius 
at  the  feet  of  his  noble  enemy,  and  he  trusts  that  many 
years  of  happiness  and  power,  together  with  the  com- 
mand of  a  large  share  of  the  empire,  will  soon  obUterate 
the  recollection  of  the  dungeons  of  the  Blacquernal.' 

*It  cannot  be,'  said  Ursel,  with  a  sigh.  'He  upon 
whose  eyes  the  sun  has  set  even  at  middle  day  can  have 
nothing  left  to  hope  from  the  most  advantageous  change 
of  circumstances.' 

'You  are  not  entirely  assured  of  that,'  said  the  Em- 
peror; 'allow  us  to  convince  you  that  what  is  intended 
towards  you  is  truly  favourable  and  Uberal,  and  I  hope 
you  will  be  rewarded  by  finding  that  there  is  more  possi- 
bility of  amendment  in  your  case  than  your  first  appre- 
hensions are  willing  to  receive.  Make  an  effort,  and  try 
whether  your  eyes  are  not  sensible  of  the  light  of  the 
lamp.' 

'Do  with  me,'  said  Ursel,  'according  to  your  pleasure; 
I  have  neither  strength  to  remonstrate  nor  the  force  of 
mind  equal  to  make  me  set  your  cruelty  at  defiance.  Of 
something  like  light  I  am  sensible;  but  whether  it  is 
reality  or  illusion  I  cannot  determine.  If  you  are  come 
to  deliver  me  from  this  living  sepulchre,  I  pray  God  to 
requite  you;  and  if,  under  such  deceitful  pretence,  you 
mean  to  take  my  life,  I  can  only  commend  my  soul  to 
Heaven,  and  the  vengeance  due  to  my  death  to  Him 
who  can  behold  the  darkest  places  in  which  injustice 
can  shroud  itself.' 

So  saying,  and  the  revulsion  of  his  spirits  rendering 
him  unable  to  give  almost  any  other  signs  of  existence, 

59 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Ursel  sunk  back  upon  his  seat  of  captivity,  and  spoke 
not  another  word  during  the  time  that  Alexius  disem- 
barrassed him  of  those  chains  which  had  so  long  hung 
about  him  that  they  almost  seemed  to  make  a  part  of 
his  person. 

'  This  is  an  affair  in  which  thy  aid  can  scarce  be  suffi- 
cient, Anna,'  said  the  Emperor:  'it  would  have  been 
well  if  you  and  I  could  have  borne  him  into  the  open  air 
by  our  joint  strength,  for  there  is  little  wisdom  in  show- 
ing the  secrets  of  this  prison-house  to  those  to  whom  they 
are  not  yet  known;  nevertheless,  go,  my  child,  and  at  a 
short  distance  from  the  head  of  the  staircase  which  we 
descended  thou  wilt  find  Edward,  the  bold  and  trusty 
Varangian,  who,  on  your  communicating  to  him  my 
orders,  will  come  hither  and  render  his  assistance;  and 
see  that  you  send  also  the  experienced  leech,  Douban.* 

Terrified,  half-stifled,  and  half-struck  with  horror,  the 
lady  yet  felt  a  degree  of  relief  from  the  somewhat  milder 
tone  in  which  her  father  addressed  her.  With  tottering 
steps,  yet  in  some  measure  encouraged  by  the  tenor 
of  her  instructions,  she  ascended  the  staircase  which 
yawned  upon  these  infernal  dungeons.  As  she  ap- 
proached the  top,  a  large  and  strong  figure  threw  its 
broad  shadow  between  the  lamp  and  the  opening  of  the 
hall.  Frightened  nearly  to  death  at  the  thoughts  of 
becoming  the  wife  of  a  squalid  wretch  like  Ursel,  a 
moment  of  weakness  seized  upon  the  Princess's  mind, 
and,  when  she  considered  the  melancholy  option  which 
her  father  had  placed  before  her,  she  could  not  but  think 
that  the  handsome  and  gallant  Varangian,  who  had 
already  rescued  the  royal  family  from  such  imminent 
danger,  was  a  fitter  person  with  whom  to  unite  herself, 

60 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

if  she  must  needs  make  a  second  choice,  than  the 
singular  and  disgusting  being  whom  her  father's 
policy  had  raked  from  the  bottom  of  the  Blacquernal 
dungeons. 

I  will  not  say  of  poor  Anna  Comnena,  who  was  a 
timid  but  not  an  unfeeling  woman,  that  she  would  have 
embraced  such  a  proposal,  had  not  the  life  of  her  present 
husband,  Nicephorus  Briennius,  been  in  extreme  dan- 
ger; and  it  was  obviously  the  determination  of  the  Em- 
peror that,  if  he  spared  him,  it  should  be  on  the  sole 
condition  of  unloosing  his  daughter's  hand,  and  binding 
her  to  some  one  of  better  faith,  and  possessed  of  a  greater 
desire  to  prove  an  affectionate  son-in-law.  Neither  did 
the  plan  of  adopting  the  Varangian  as  a  second  husband 
enter  decidedly  into  the  mind  of  the  Princess.  The 
present  was  a  moment  of  danger,  in  which  her  rescue  to 
be  successful  must  be  sudden,  and  perhaps,  if  once 
achieved,  the  lady  might  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
freeing  herself  both  from  Ursel  and  the  Varangian,  with- 
out disjoining  either  of  them  from  her  father's  assist- 
ance, or  of  herself  losing  it.  At  any  rate,  the  surest 
means  of  safety  were  to  secure,  if  possible,  the  young 
soldier,  whose  features  and  appearance  were  of  a  kind 
which  rendered  the  task  no  way  disagreeable  to  a  beauti- 
ful woman.  The  schemes  of  conquest  are  so  natural  to 
the  fair  sex,  and  the  whole  idea  passed  so  quickly  through 
Anna  Comnena's  mind,  that,  having  first  entered  while 
the  soldier's  shadow  was  interposed  between  her  and  the 
lamp,  it  had  fully  occupied  her  quick  imagination,  when, 
with  deep  reverence  and  great  surprise  at  her  sudden 
appearance  on  the  ladder  of  Acheron,  the  Varangian, 
advancing,  knelt  down  and  lent  his  arm  to  the  assistance 

6i 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  the  fair  lady,  in  order  to  help  her  out  of  the  dreary 
staircase. 

'Dearest  Hereward,'  said  the  lady,  with  a  degree  of 
intimacy  which  seemed  unusual,  'how  much  do  I  rejoice, 
in  this  dreadful  night,  to  have  fallen  under  your  protec- 
tion! I  have  been  in  places  which  the  spirit  of  Hell 
appears  to  have  contrived  for  the  human  race.'  The 
alarm  of  the  Princess,  the  familiarity  of  a  beautiful 
woman,  who,  while  in  mortal  fear,  seeks  refuge,  like  a 
frightened  dove,  in  the  bosom  of  the  strong  and  the 
brave,  must  be  the  excuse  of  Anna  Comnena  for  the 
tender  epithet  with  which  she  greeted  Hereward;  nor, 
if  he  had  chosen  to  answer  in  the  same  tone,  which, 
faithful  as  he  was,  might  have  proved  the  case  if  the 
meeting  had  chanced  before  he  saw  Bertha,  would  the 
daughter  of  Alexius  have  been,  to  say  the  truth,  irre- 
concilably ofifended.  Exhausted  as  she  was,  she  suffered 
herself  to  repose  upon  the  broad  breast  and  shoulder  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon;  nor  did  she  make  an  attempt  to 
recover  herself,  although  the  decorum  of  her  sex  and 
station  seemed  to  recommend  such  an  exertion.  Here- 
ward was  obliged  himself  to  ask  her,  with  the  unim- 
passioned  and  reverential  demeanour  of  a  private  soldier 
to  a  princess,  whether  he  ought  to  simimon  her  female 
attendants,  to  which  she  faintly  uttered  a  negative. 
*No  —  no,'  said  she,  'I  have  a  duty  to  execute  for  my 
father,  and  I  must  not  summon  eye-witnesses;  he  knows 
me  to  be  in  safety,  Hereward,  since  he  knows  I  am  with 
thee;  and  if  I  am  a  burden  to  you  in  my  present  state  of 
weakness,  I  shall  soon  recover,  if  you  will  set  me  down 
upon  the  marble  steps.' 

'Heaven  forbid,  lady,'  said  Hereward,  'that  I  were 
62 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

thus  neglectful  of  your  Highness's  gracious  health!  I 
see  your  two  young  ladies,  Astarte  and  Violante,  are  in 
quest  of  you.  Permit  me  to  summon  them  hither,  and  I 
will  keep  watch  upon  you  if  you  are  unable  to  retire  to 
your  chamber,  where,  methinks,  the  present  disorder  of 
your  nerves  will  be  most  properly  treated.' 

'Do  as  thou  wilt,  barbarian,'  said  the  Princess,  rally- 
ing herself,  with  a  certain  degree  of  pique,  arising  per- 
haps from  her  not  thinking  more  dramatis  personcB  were 
appropriate  to  the  scene  than  the  two  who  were  already 
upon  the  stage.  Then,  as  if  for  the  first  time  appearing 
to  recollect  the  message  with  which  she  had  been  com- 
missioned, she  exhorted  the  Varangian  to  repair  in- 
stantly to  her  father. 

On  such  occasions,  the  slightest  circumstances  have 
their  effect  on  the  actors.  The  Anglo-Saxon  was  sensi- 
ble that  the  Princess  was  somewhat  offended,  though 
whether  she  was  so  on  account  of  her  being  actually  in 
Hereward's  arms,  or  whether  the  cause  of  her  anger  was 
the  being  discovered  there  by  the  two  young  maidens, 
the  sentinel  did  not  presume  to  guess,  but  departed  for 
the  gloomy  vaults  to  join  Alexius,  with  the  never-failing 
double-edged  axe,  the  bane  of  many  a  Turk,  glittering 
upon  his  shoulder. 

Astarte  and  her  companion  had  been  despatched  by 
the  Empress  Irene  in  search  of  Anna  Comnena,  through 
those  apartments  of  the  palace  which  she  was  wont  to 
inhabit.  The  daughter  of  Alexius  could  nowhere  be 
found,  although  the  business  on  which  they  were  seeking 
her  was  described  by  the  Empress  as  of  the  most  pressing 
nature.  Nothing,  however,  in  a  palace  passes  altogether 
unespied,  so  that  the  Empress's  messengers  at  length 

63 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

received  information  that  their  mistress  and  the 
Emperor  had  been  seen  to  descend  that  gloomy  access 
to  the  dungeons  which,  by.  allusion  to  the  classical 
infernal  regions,  was  termed  the  Pit  of  Acheron.  They 
came  thither,  accordingly,  and  we  have  related  the  con- 
sequences. Hereward  thought  it  necessary  to  say  that 
her  Imperial  Highness  had  swooned  upon  being  sud- 
denly brought  into  the  upper  air.  The  Princess,  on  the 
other  part,  briskly  shook  off  her  juvenile  attendants, 
and  declared  herself  ready  to  proceed  to  the  chamber  of 
her  mother.  The  obeisance  which  she  made  Hereward 
at  parting  had  something  in  it  of  haughtiness,  yet 
evidently  quahfied  by  a  look  of  friendship  and  regard. 
As  she  passed  an  apartment  in  which  some  of  the  royal 
slaves  were  in  waiting,  she  addressed  to  one  of  them,  an 
old,  respectable  man,  of  medical  skill,  a  private  and 
hurried  order,  desiring  him  to  go  to  the  assistance  of  her 
father,  whom  he  would  find  at  the  bottom  of  the  stair- 
case called  the  Pit  of  Acheron,  and  to  take  his  scimitar 
along  with  him.  To  hear,  as  usual,  was  to  obey,  and 
Douban,  for  that  was  his  name,  only  repUed  by  that 
significant  sign  which  indicates  immediate  acquiescence. 
In  the  meantime,  Anna  Comnena  herself  hastened  on- 
ward to  her  mother's  apartments,  in  which  she  found 
the  Empress  alone. 

'Go  hence,  maidens,'  said  Irene,  'and  do  not  let  any 
one  have  access  to  these  apartments,  even  if  the 
Emperor  himself  should  command  it.  Shut  the  door,' 
she  said,  'Anna  Comnena;  and  if  the  jealousy  of  the 
stronger  sex  do  not  allow  us  the  masculine  privilege  of 
bolts  and  bars  to  secure  the  insides  of  our  apartments, 
let  us  avail  ourselves,  as  quickly  as  may  be,  of  such 

64 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

opportunities  as  are  permitted  us;  and  remember, 
Princess,  that  however  impHcit  your  duty  to  your 
father,  it  is  yet  more  so  to  me,  who  am  of  the  same  sex 
with  thyself,  and  may  truly  call  thee,  even  according  to 
the  letter,  blood  of  my  blood  and  bone  of  my  bone.  Be 
assured  thy  father  knows  not  at  this  moment  the 
feelings  of  a  woman.  Neither  he  nor  any  man  alive  can 
justly  conceive  the  pangs  of  the  heart  which  beats  under 
a  woman's  robe.  These  men,  Anna,  would  tear  asunder 
without  scruple  the  tenderest  ties  of  affection,  the 
whole  structure  of  domestic  felicity,  in  which  lie  a 
woman's  cares,  her  joy,  her  pain,  her  love,  and  her 
despair.  Trust,  therefore,  to  me,  my  daughter,  and 
believe  me,  I  will  at  once  save  thy  father's  crown  and 
thy  happiness.  The  conduct  of  thy  husband  has  been 
wrong  —  most  cruelly  wrong;  but,  Anna,  he  is  a  man, 
and  in  calling  him  such  I  lay  to  his  charge,  as  natural 
frailties,  thoughtless  treachery,  wanton  infidelity,  every 
species  of  folly  and  inconsistency  to  which  his  race  is 
subject.  You  ought  not,  therefore,  to  think  of  his  faults, 
unless  it  be  to  forgive  them.' 

'Madam,'  said  Anna  Comnena,  'forgive  me  if  I 
remind  you  that  you  recommend  to  a  princess  born  in 
the  purple  itself  a  line  of  conduct  which  would  hardly 
become  the  female  who  carries  the  pitcher  for  the  need- 
ful  supply  of  water  to  the  village  well.  All  who  are 
around  me  have  been  taught  to  pay  me  the  obeisance 
due  to  my  birth,  and  while  this  Nicephorus  Briennius 
crept  on  his  knees  to  your  daughter's  hand,  which  you 
extended  towards  him,  he  was  rather  receiving  the  yoke 
of  a  mistress  than  accepting  a  household  alliance  with  a 
wife.  He  has  incurred  his  doom,  without  a  touch  even 
44  6s 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  that  temptation  which  may  be  pled  by  lesser  culprits 
in  his  condition;  and  if  it  is  the  will  of  my  father  that  he 
should  die,  or  suffer  banishment  or  imprisonment,  for 
the  crime  he  has  committed,  it  is  not  the  business  of 
Anna  Comnena  to  interfere,  she  being  the  most  injured 
among  the  imperial  family,  who  have  in  so  many  and 
such  gross  respects  the  right  to  complain  of  his  false- 
hood.' 

'Daughter,'  rephed  the  Empress,  *so  far  I  agree  with 
you,  that  the  treason  of  Nicephorus  towards  your 
father  and  myself  has  been  in  a  great  degree  unpardon- 
able; nor  do  I  easily  see  on  what  footing,  save  that  of 
generosity,  his  life  could  be  saved.  But  still  you  are 
yourself  in  different  circumstances  from  me,  and  may, 
as  an  affectionate  and  fond  wife,  compare  the  intimacies 
of  your  former  habits  with  the  bloody  change  which  is 
so  soon  to  be  the  consequence  and  the  conclusion  of  his 
crimes.  He  is  possessed  of  that  person  and  of  those 
features  which  women  most  readily  recall  to  their  mem- 
ory, whether  alive  or  dead.  Think  what  it  will  cost  you 
to  recollect  that  the  rugged  executioner  received  his  last 
salute,  that  the  shapely  neck  had  no  better  repose  than 
the  rough  block,  that  the  tongue  the  sound  of  which  you 
used  to  prefer  to  the  choicest  instruments  of  music  is 
silent  in  the  dust ! ' 

Anna,  who  was  not  insensible  to  the  personal  graces 
of  her  husband,  was  much  affected  by  this  forcible 
appeal.  'Why  distress  me  thus,  mother?'  she  rephed, 
in  a  weeping  accent.  'Did  I  not  feel  as  acutely  as  you 
would  have  me  to  do,  this  moment,  however  awful, 
would  be  easily  borne.  I  had  but  to  think  of  him  as  he 
is,  to  contrast  his  personal  quahties  with  those  of  the 

66 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

mind,  by  which  they  are  more  than  overbalanced,  and 
resign  myself  to  his  deserved  fate  with  unresisting  sub- 
mission to  my  father's  will.' 

'And  that,'  said  the  Empress,  'would  be  to  bind  thee, 
by  his  sole  fiat,  to  some  obscure  wretch,  whose  habits  of 
plotting  and  intriguing  had,  by  some  miserable  chance, 
given  him  the  opportunity  of  becoming  of  importance 
to  the  Emperor,  and  who  is  therefore  to  be  rewarded  by 
the  hand  of  Anna  Comnena.' 

'Do  not  think  so  meanly  of  me,  madam,'  said  the 
Princess.  'I  know,  as  well  as  ever  Grecian  maiden  did, 
how  I  should  free  myself  from  dishonour;  and,  you  may 
trust  me,  you  shall  never  blush  for  your  daughter.' 

'Tell  me  not  that,'  said  the  Empress,  'since  I  shall 
blush  alike  for  the  relentless  cruelty  which  gives  up  a 
once  beloved  husband  to  an  ignominious  death,  and 
for  the  passion,  for  which  I  want  a  name,  which  would 
replace  him  by  an  obscure  barbarian  from  the  extremity 
of  Thule,  or  some  wretch  escaped  from  the  Blacquernal 
dungeons.' 

The  Princess  was  astonished  to  perceive  that  her  mo- 
ther was  acquainted  with  the  purposes,  even  the  most 
private,  which  her  father  had  formed  for  his  governance 
during  this  emergency.  She  was  ignorant  that  Alexius 
and  his  royal  consort,  in  other  respects  living  together 
with  a  decency  ever  exemplary  in  people  of  their  rank, 
had  sometimes,  on  interesting  occasions,  family  de- 
bates, in  which  the  husband,  provoked  by  the  seeming 
unbelief  of  his  partner,  was  tempted  to  let  her  guess 
more  of  his  real  purposes  than  he  would  have  coolly 
imparted  of  his  own  calm  choice. 

The  Princess  was  affected  at  the  anticipation  of  the 

67 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

death  of  her  husband,  nor  could  this  have  been  reason- 
ably supposed  to  be  otherwise;  but  she  was  still  more 
hurt  and  affronted  by  her  mother  taking  it  for  granted 
that  she  designed  upon  the  instant  to  replace  the  Caesar 
by  an  uncertain,  and  at  all  events  an  unworthy,  suc- 
cessor. Whatever  considerations  had  operated  to  make 
Hereward  her  choice,  their  ejBfect  was  lost  when  the 
match  was  placed  in  this  odious  and  degrading  point  of 
view;  besides  which  is  to  be  remembered,  that  women 
almost  instinctively  deny  their  first  thoughts  in  favour 
of  a  suitor,  and  seldom  willingly  reveal  them,  unless 
time  and  circumstance  concur  to  favour  them.  She 
called  Heaven,  therefore,  passionately  to  witness,  while 
she  repelled  the  charge. 

'Bear witness,'  she  said,  'Our  Lady, Queen  of  Heaven! 
bear  witness,  saints  and  martyrs  all,  ye  blessed  ones, 
who  are,  more  than  ourselves,  the  guardians  of  our 
mental  purity!  that  I  know  no  passion  which  I  dare  not 
avow,  and  that,  if  Nicephorus's  life  depended  on  my 
entreaty  to  God  and  men,  all  his  injurious  acts  towards 
me  disregarded  and  despised,  it  should  be  as  long  as 
Heaven  gave  to  those  servants  whom  it  snatched  from 
the  earth  without  suffering  the  pangs  of  mortahty.' 

*You  have  sworn  boldly,'  said  the  Empress.  'See, 
Anna  Comnena,  that  you  keep  your  word,  for  beUeve 
me  it  will  be  tried.' 

'What  will  be  tried,  mother?'  said  the  Princess;  'or 
what  have  I  to  do  to  pronounce  the  doom  of  the  Caesar, 
who  is  not  subject  to  my  power? ' 

'I  will  show  you,'  said  the  Empress,  gravely;  and, 
leading  her  towards  a  sort  of  wardrobe,  which  formed 
a  closet  in  the  wall,  she  withdrew  a  curtain  which  hung 

68 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

before  it,  and  placed  before  her  her  unfortunate  hus- 
band, Nicephorus  Briennius,  half-attired,  with  his  sword 
drawn  in  his  hand.  Looking  upon  him  as  an  enemy,  and 
conscious  of  some  schemes  with  respect  to  him  which 
had  passed  through  her  mind  in  the  course  of  these  trou- 
bles, the  Princess  screamed  faintly,  upon  perceiving  him 
so  near  her  with  a  weapon  in  his  hand. 

*Be  more  composed,'  said  the  Empress,  'or  this 
wretched  man,  if  discovered,  falls  no  less  a  victim  to  thy 
idle  fears  than  to  thy  baneful  revenge.' 

Nicephorus  at  this  speech  seemed  to  have  adopted  his 
cue,  for,  dropping  the  point  of  his  sword,  and  falling  on 
his  knees  before  the  Princess,  he  clasped  his  hands  to 
entreat  for  mercy, 

'What  hast  thou  to  ask  from  me?'  said  his  wife,  na- 
turally assured,  by  her  husband's  prostration,  that  the 
stronger  force  was  upon  her  own  side  —  *  what  hast  thou 
to  ask  from  me,  that  outraged  gratitude,  betrayed  affec- 
tion, the  most  solemn  vows  violated,  and  the  fondest 
ties  of  nature  torn  asunder  like  the  spider's  broken  web, 
will  permit  thee  to  put  in  words  for  very  shame?' 

'Do  not  suppose,  Anna,'  replied  the  suppliant,  'that  I 
am  at  this  eventful  period  of  my  life  to  play  the  hypo- 
crite, for  the  purpose  of  saving  the  wretched  remnant  of 
a  dishonoured  existence.  I  am  but  desirous  to  part  in 
charity  with  thee,  to  make  my  peace  with  Heaven,  and 
to  nourish  the  last  hope  of  making  my  way,  though  bur- 
dened with  many  crimes,  to  those  regions  in  which 
alone  I  can  find  thy  beauty,  thy  talents,  equalled  at 
least,  if  not  excelled.' 

'You  hear  him,  daughter?'  said  Irene.  'His  boon  is 
for  forgiveness  alone;  thy  condition  is  the  more  godlike, 

69 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

since  thou  mayst  unite  the  safety  of  his  life  with  the 
pardon  of  his  offences.' 

'Thou  art  deceived,  mother,'  answered  Anna.  *It  is 
not  mine  to  pardon  his  guilt,  far  less  to  remit  his  punish- 
ment. You  have  taught  me  to  think  of  myself  as  future 
ages  shall  know  me;  what  will  they  say  of  me,  those 
future  ages,  when  I  am  described  as  the  unfeeling 
daughter  who  pardoned  the  intended  assassin  of  her 
father  because  she  saw  in  him  her  own  unfaithful  hus- 
band?' 

'See,  there,'  said  the  Caesar,  'is  not  that,  most  serene 
Empress,  the  very  point  of  despair?  and  have  I  not  in 
vain  offered  my  life-blood  to  wipe  out  the  stain  of  parri- 
cide and  ingratitude?  Have  I  not  also  vindicated  my- 
self from  the  most  unpardonable  part  of  the  accusation, 
which  charged  me  with  attempting  the  murder  of  the 
godlike  emperor?  Have  I  not  sworn  by  all  that  is  sacred 
to  man,  that  my  purpose  went  no  farther  than  to  seques- 
trate Alexius  for  a  httle  time  from  the  fatigues  of  empire, 
and  place  him  where  he  should  quietly  enjoy  ease  and 
tranquillity;  while,  at  the  same  time,  his  empire  should 
be  as  implicitly  regulated  by  himself,  his  sacred  pleasure 
being  transmitted  through  me,  as  in  any  respect,  or  at 
any  period,  it  had  ever  been? ' 

'  Erring  man ! '  said  the  Princess, '  hast  thou  approached 
so  near  to  the  footstool  of  Alexius  Comnenus,  and  durst 
thou  form  so  false  an  estimate  of  him  as  to  conceive  it 
possible  that  he  would  consent  to  be  a  mere  puppet  by 
whose  intervention  you  might  have  brought  his  empire 
to  submission?  Know  that  the  blood  of  Comnenus  is 
not  so  poor:  my  father  would  have  resisted  the  treason 
in  arms,  and  by  the  death  of  thy  benefactor  only  couldst 

70 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

thou  have  gratified  the  suggestions  of  thy  criminal 
ambition.' 

'Be  such  your  belief,'  said  the  Caesar:  'I  have  said 
enough  for  a  life  which  is  not  and  ought  not  to  be  dear 
to  me.  Call  your  guards,  and  let  them  take  the  life  of 
the  unfortunate  Briennius,  since  it  has  become  hateful 
to  his  once  beloved  Anna  Comnena,  Be  not  afraid  that 
any  resistance  of  mine  shall  render  the  scene  of  my  ap- 
prehension dubious  or  fatal.  Nicephorus  Briennius  is 
Caesar  no  longer,  and  he  thus  throws  at  the  feet  of  his 
princess  and  spouse  the  only  poor  means  which  he  has 
of  resisting  the  just  doom  which  is  therefore  at  her  pleas- 
ure to  pass.' 

He  cast  his  sword  before  the  feet  of  the  Princess,  while 
Irene  exclaimed,  weeping,  or  seeming  to  weep,  bitterly 
— *I  have  indeed  read  of  such  scenes;  but  could  I  ever 
have  thought  that  my  own  daughter  would  have  been 
the  principal  actress  in  one  of  them ;  could  I  ever  have 
thought  that  her  mind,  admired  by  every  one  as  a  pal- 
ace for  the  occupation  of  Apollo  and  the  Muses,  should 
not  have  had  room  enough  for  the  humbler  but  more 
amiable  virtue  of  feminine  charity  and  compassion, 
which  builds  itself  a  nest  in  the  bosom  of  the  lowest 
village  girl?  Do  thy  gifts,  accomplishments,  and  talents 
spread  hardness  as  well  as  polish  over  thy  heart?  If  so, 
a  hundred  times  better  renounce  them  all,  and  retain  in 
their  stead  those  gentle  and  domestic  virtues  which  are 
the  first  honours  of  the  female  heart.  A  woman  who  is 
pitiless  is  a  worse  monster  than  one  who  is  unsexed  by 
any  other  passion.' 

'What  would  you  have  me  do?'  said  Anna.  'You, 
mother,  ought  to  know  better  than  I  that  the  life  of  my 

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WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

father  is  hardly  consistent  with  the  existence  of  this 
bold  and  cruel  man.  O,  I  am  sure  he  still  meditates 
his  purpose  of  conspiracy!  He  that  could  deceive  a 
woman  in  the  manner  he  has  done  me  will  not  relin- 
quish a  plan  which  is  founded  upon  the  death  of  his 
benefactor.' 

'You  do  me  injustice,  Anna,'  said  Briennius,  starting 
up  and  imprinting  a  kiss  upon  her  lips  ere  she  was  aware. 
'By  this  caress,  the  last  that  will  pass  between  us,  I 
swear  that,  if  in  my  hfe  I  have  yielded  to  folly,  I  have, 
notwithstanding,  never  been  guilty  of  a  treason  of  the 
heart  towards  a  woman  as  superior  to  the  rest  of  the 
female  world  in  talents  and  accomplishments  as  in  per- 
sonal beauty.' 

The  Princess,  much  softened,  shook  her  head  as  she 
rephed  —  *  Ah,  Nicephorus,  such  were  once  your  words; 
such,  perhaps,  were  then  your  thoughts;  but  who  or 
what  shall  now  warrant  to  me  the  veracity  of  either? ' 

'Those  very  accomplishments  and  that  very  beauty 
itself,'  replied  Nicephorus. 

'And  if  more  is  wanting,'  said  Irene,  'thy  mother  will 
enter  her  security  for  him.  Deem  her  not  an  insuflficient 
pledge  in  this  affair:  she  is  thy  mother,  and  the  wife  of 
Alexius  Comnenus,  interested  beyond  all  human  beings 
in  the  growth  and  increase  of  the  power  and  dignity  of 
her  husband  and  her  child ;  and  one  who  sees  on  this  occa- 
sion an  opportunity  for  exercising  generosity,  for  solder- 
ing up  the  breaches  of  the  imperial  house,  and  recon- 
structing the  frame  of  government  upon  a  basis  which, 
if  there  be  faith  and  gratitude  in  man,  shall  never  be 
again  exposed  to  hazard.' 

'To  the  reality  of  that  faith  and  gratitude,  then,'  said 

72 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  Princess,  'we  must  trust  implicitly,  as  it  is  your  will, 
mother;  although  even  my  own  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, both  through  study  and  experience  of  the  world, 
has  called  me  to  observe  the  rashness  of  such  confidence. 
But  although  we  two  may  forgive  Nicephorus's  errors, 
the  Emperor  is  still  the  person  to  whom  the  final  refer- 
ence must  be  had,  both  as  to  pardon  and  favour.* 

'Fear  not  Alexius,'  answered  her  mother;  'he  will 
speak  determinedly  and  decidedly,  but,  if  he  acts  not  in 
the  very  moment  of  forming  the  resolution,  it  is  no  more 
to  be  relied  on  than  an  icicle  in  time  of  thaw.  Do  thou 
apprise  me,  if  thou  canst,  what  the  Emperor  is  at  pre- 
sent doing,  and  take  my  word  I  will  find  means  to  bring 
him  round  to  our  opinion.* 

'Must  I  then  betray  secrets  which  my  father  has 
entrusted  to  me?'  said  the  Princess;  'and  to  one  who  has 
so  lately  held  the  character  of  his  avowed  enemy?' 

'Call  it  not  betray,'  said  Irene,  'since  it  is  written, 
thou  shalt  betray  no  one,  least  of  all  thy  father,  and  the 
father  of  the  empire.  Yet  again  it  is  written  by  the  holy 
Luke,  that  men  shall  be  betrayed,  both  by  parents  and 
brethren,  and  kinsfolk,  and  friends,  and  therefore  surely 
also  by  daughters ;  by  which  I  only  mean  thou  shalt  dis- 
cover to  us  thy  father's  secrets,  so  far  as  may  enable  us 
to  save  the  Ufe  of  thy  husband.  The  necessity  of  the 
case  excuses  whatever  may  be  otherwise  considered  as 
irregular.' 

'Be  it  so  then,  mother.  Having  yielded  my  consent, 
perhaps  too  easily,  to  snatch  this  malefactor  from  my 
father's  justice,  I  am  sensible  I  must  secure  his  safety 
by  such  means  as  are  in  my  power.  I  left  my  father  at 
the  bottom  of  those  stairs  called  the  Pit  of  Acheron,  in 

73 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  cell  of  a  blind  man,  to  whom  he  gave  the  name  of 
UrseL' 

'Holy  Mary!'  exclaimed  the  Empress,  'thou  hast 
named  a  name  which  has  been  long  unspoken  in  the 
open  air.' 

'Has  the  Emperor's  sense  of  his  danger  from  the  liv- 
ing,' said  the  Caesar,  'induced  him  to  invoke  the  dead? 
for  Ursel  has  been  no  living  man  for  the  space  of  three 
years.' 

'It  matters  not,'  said  Anna  Comnena;  'I  tell  you  true. 
My  father  even  now  held  conference  with  a  miserable- 
looking  prisoner  whom  he  so  named.' 

'It  is  a  danger  the  more,'  said  the  Caesar:  'he  cannot 
have  forgotten  the  zeal  with  which  I  embraced  the  cause 
of  the  present  emperor  against  his  own;  and  so  soon  as  he 
is  at  hberty,  he  will  study  to  avenge  it.  For  this  we  must 
endeavour  to  make  some  provision,  though  it  increases 
our  difficulties.  Sit  down  then,  my  gentle,  my  benefi- 
cent mother;  and  thou,  my  wife,  who  hast  preferred  thy 
love  for  an  unworthy  husband  to  the  suggestions  of 
jealous  passion  and  of  headlong  revenge,  sit  down,  and 
let  us  see  in  what  manner  it  may  be  in  our  power,  con- 
sistently with  your  duty  to  the  Emperor,  to  bring  our 
broken  vessel  securely  into  port.' 

He  employed  much  natural  grace  of  manner  in  hand- 
ing the  mother  and  daughter  to  their  seats;  and,  taking 
his  place  confidently  between  them,  all  were  soon  en- 
gaged in  concerting  what  measures  should  be  taken  for 
the  morrow,  not  forgetting  such  as  should  at  once  have 
the  effect  of  preserving  the  Caesar's  life,  and  at  the 
same  time  of  securing  the  Grecian  empire  against  the 
conspiracy  of  which  he  had  been  the  chief  instigator. 

74 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Briennius  ventured  to  hint  that  perhaps  the  best  way 
would  be  to  suffer  the  conspiracy  to  proceed  as  origin- 
ally intended,  pledging  his  own  faith  that  the  rights  of 
Alexius  should  be  held  inviolate  during  the  struggle;  but 
his  influence  over  the  Empress  and  her  daughter  did 
not  extend  to  obtaining  so  great  a  trust.  They  plainly 
protested  against  permitting  him  to  leave  the  palace, 
or  taking  the  least  share  in  the  confusion  which  to- 
morrow was  certain  to  witness. 

'You  forget,  noble  ladies,'  said  the  Caesar,  'that  my 
honour  is  concerned  in  meeting  the  Count  of  Paris.' 

'Pshaw!  tell  me  not  of  your  honour,  Briennius,'  said 
Anna  Comnena;  'do  I  not  well  know  that,  although  the 
honour  of  the  Western  knights  be  a  species  of  Moloch, 
a  flesh  -  devouring,  blood  -  quaffing  demon,  yet  that 
which  is  the  god  of  idolatry  to  the  Eastern  warriors, 
though  equally  loud  and  noisy  in  the  hall,  is  far  less  im- 
placable in  the  field?  Believe  not  that  I  have  forgiven 
great  injuries  and  insults,  in  order  to  take  such  false  coin 
as  honour  in  payment.  Your  ingenuity  is  but  poor,  if 
you  cannot  devise  some  excuse  which  will  satisfy  the 
Greeks;  and  in  good  sooth,  Briennius,  to  this  battle  you 
go  not,  whether  for  your  good  or  for  your  ill.  Believe 
not  that  I  will  consent  to  your  meeting  either  Count  or 
Countess,  whether  in  warlike  combat  or  amorous  parley. 
So  you  may  at  a  word  count  ui3on  remaining  prisoner 
here  until  the  hour  appointed  for  such  gross  folly  be  past 
and  over.' 

The  Ca3sar,  perhaps,  was  not  in  his  heart  angry  that 
his  wife's  pleasure  was  so  bluntly  and  resolutely  ex- 
pressed against  the  intended  combat.  '  If,'  said  he, '  you 
are  determined  to  take  my  honour  into  your  own  keep- 

75 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ing,  I  am  here  for  the  present  your  prisoner,  nor  have  I  the 
means  of  interfering  with  your  pleasure.  When  once  at 
liberty,  the  free  exercise  of  my  valour  and  my  lance  is 
once  more  my  own,' 

*Be  it  30,  sir  paladin,'  said  the  Princess,  very  com- 
posedly. 'I  have  good  hope  that  neither  of  them  will 
involve  you  with  any  of  yon  daredevils  of  Paris,  whether 
male  or  female,  and  that  we  will  regulate  the  pitch  to 
which  your  courage  soars  by  the  estimation  of  Greek 
philosophy,  and  the  judgment  of  our  blessed  Lady  of 
Mercy,  not  her  of  the  Broken  Lances.' 

At  this  moment,  an  authoritative  knock  at  the  door 
alarmed  the  consultation  of  the  Cassar  and  the  ladies. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

Physician.  Be  comforted,  good  madam;  the  great  rage. 
You  see,  is  kill'd  in  him;  and  yet  it  is  danger 
To  make  him  even  o'er  the  time  he  has  lost. 
Desire  him  to  go  in;  trouble  him  no  more 
Till  further  settling. 

King  Lear. 

We  left  the  Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  at  the  bottom 
of  a  subterranean  vault,  with  a  lamp  expiring,  and  hav- 
ing charge  of  a  prisoner  who  seemed  himself  nearly  re- 
duced to  the  same  extremity.  For  the  first  two  or  three 
moments  he  listened  after  his  daughter's  retiring  foot- 
steps. He  grew  impatient,  and  began  to  long  for  her 
return  before  it  was  possible  she  could  have  traversed 
the  path  betwixt  him  and  the  summit  of  these  gloomy 
stairs.  A  minute  or  two  he  endured  with  patience  the 
absence  of  the  assistance  which  he  had  sent  her  to  sum- 
mon ;  but  strange  suspicions  began  to  cross  his  imagina- 
tion. Could  it  be  possible?  Had  she  changed  her  pur- 
pose on  account  of  the  hard  words  which  he  had  used 
towards  her?  Had  she  resolved  to  leave  her  father  to 
his  fate  in  his  hour  of  utmost  need?  and  was  he  to  rely 
no  longer  upon  the  assistance  which  he  had  implored  her 
to  send? 

The  short  time  which  the  Princess  trifled  away  in  a 
sort  of  gallantry  with  the  Varangian  Hereward  was 
magnified  tenfold  by  the  impatience  of  the  Emperor, 
who  began  to  think  that  she  was  gone  to  fetch  the  accom- 
plices of  the  Caisar  to  assault  their  prince  in  his  defence- 

77 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

less  condition,  and  carry  into  effect  their  half-discon- 
certed conspiracy. 

After  a  considerable  time,  filled  up  with  this  feeling  of 
agonizing  uncertainty,  he  began  at  length,  more  com- 
posedly, to  recollect  the  little  chance  there  was  that  the 
Princess  would,  even  for  her  own  sake,  resentful  as  she 
was  in  the  highest  degree  of  her  husband's  ill  behaviour, 
join  her  resources  to  his,  to  the  destruction  of  one  who 
had  so  generally  showed  himself  an  indulgent  and 
affectionate  father.  When  he  had  adopted  this  better 
mood,  a  step  was  heard  upon  the  staircase,  and,  after 
a  long  and  unequal  descent,  Hereward,  in  his  heavy 
armour,  at  length  coolly  arrived  at  the  bottom  of  the 
steps.  Behind  him,  panting  and  trembling,  partly  with 
cold  and  partly  with  terror,  came  Douban,  the  slave  well 
skilled  in  medicine. 

'Welcome,  good  Edward!  Welcome,  Douban!'  he 
said,  'whose  medical  skill  is  sufficiently  able  to  counter- 
balance the  weight  of  years  which  hang  upon  him.' 

'Your  Highness  is  gracious — '  said  Douban;  but 
what  he  would  have  further  said  was  cut  off  by  a  vio- 
lent fit  of  coughing,  the  consequence  of  his  age,  of  his 
feeble  habit,  of  the  damps  of  the  dungeon,  and  the 
rugged  exercise  of  descending  the  long  and  difficult  stair- 
case. 

'Thou  art  unaccustomed  to  visit  thy  patients  in  so 
rough  an  abode,'  said  Alexius;  'and,  nevertheless,  to  the 
damps  of  these  dreary  regions  state  necessity  obliges  us 
to  confine  many  who  are  no  less  our  beloved  subjects 
in  reality  than  they  are  in  title.' 

The  medical  man  continued  his  cough,  perhaps  as  an 
apology  for  not  giving  that  answer  of  assent  with  which 

78 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

his  conscience  did  not  easily  permit  him  to  reply  to  an 
observation  which,  though  stated  by  one  who  should 
know  the  fact,  seemed  not  to  be  in  itself  altogether 
likely. 

'Yes,  my  Douban,'  said  the  Emperor,  *in  this  strong 
case  of  steel  and  adamant  have  we  found  it  necessary 
to  inclose  the  redoubted  Ursel,  whose  fame  is  spread 
through  the  whole  world,  both  for  military  skill,  political 
wisdom,  personal  bravery,  and  other  noble  gifts,  which 
we  have  been  obliged  to  obscure  for  a  time,  in  order  that 
we  might,  at  the  fittest  conjuncture,  which  is  now 
arrived,  restore  them  to  the  world  in  their  full  lustre. 
Feel  his  pulse,  therefore,  Douban;  consider  him  as  one 
who  hath  suffered  severe  confinement,  with  all  its  pri- 
vations, and  is  about  to  be  suddenly  restored  to  the  full 
enjoyment  of  life  and  whatever  renders  life  valuable.' 

*I  will  do  my  best,'  said  Douban;  'but  your  Majesty 
must  consider  that  we  work  upon  a  frail  and  exhausted 
subject,  whose  health  seems  already  well-nigh  gone,  and 
may  perhaps  vanish  in  an  instant,  like  this  pale  and 
trembling  light,  whose  precarious  condition  the  life- 
breath  of  this  unfortunate  patient  seems  closely  to 
resemble.' 

'Desire,  therefore,  good  Douban,  one  or  two  of  the 
mutes  who  serve  in  the  interior,  and  who  have  repeatedly 
been  thy  assistants  in  such  cases  —  or  stay  —  Edward, 
thy  motions  will  be  more  speedy;  do  thou  go  for  the 
mutes;  make  them  bring  some  kind  of  litter  to  transport 
the  patient;  and,  Douban,  do  thou  superintend  the 
whole.  Transport  him  instantly  to  a  suitable  apartment, 
only  taking  care  that  it  be  secret,  and  let  him  enjoy  the 
comforts  of  the  bath,  and  whatever  else  may  tend  to 

79 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

restore  his  feeble  animation,  keeping  in  mind  that  he 
must,  if  possible,  appear  to-morrow  in  the  field.' 

'That  will  be  hard,'  said  Douban,  'after  having  been, 
it  would  appear,  subjected  to  such  fare  and  such  usage 
as  his  fluctuating  pulse  intimates  but  too  plainly.* 

'  'T  was  a  mistake  of  the  dungeon-keeper,  the  inhuman 
villain,  who  should  not  go  without  his  reward,'  contin- 
ued the  Emperor,  'had  not  Heaven  already  bestowed 
it  by  the  strange  means  of  a  sylvan  man  or  native  of  the 
woods,  who  yesterday  put  to  death  the  jailer  who  medi- 
tated the  death  of  his  prisoner.  Yes,  my  dear  Douban,  a 
private  sentinel  of  our  guards  called  the  Immortal  had 
well-nigh  annihilated  this  flower  of  our  trust,  whom  for 
a  time  we  were  compelled  to  immure  in  secret.  Then, 
indeed,  a  rude  hammer  had  dashed  to  pieces  an  unpar- 
alleled brilliant,  but  the  fates  have  arrested  such  a  mis- 
fortune.' 

The  assistance  having  arrived,  the  physician,  who 
seemed  more  accustomed  to  act  than  to  speak,  directed 
a  bath  to  be  prepared  with  medicated  herbs,  and  gave  it 
as  his  opinion  that  the  patient  should  not  be  disturbed 
till  to-morrow's  sun  was  high  in  the  heavens.  Ursel 
accordingly  was  assisted  to  the  bath,  which  was  em- 
ployed according  to  the  directions  of  the  physician,  but 
without  affording  any  material  symptoms  of  recovery. 
From  thence  he  was  transferred  to  a  cheerful  bed- 
chamber, opening  by  an  ample  window  to  one  of  the 
terraces  of  the  palace,  which  commanded  an  extensive 
prospect.  These  operations  were  performed  upon  a 
frame  so  extremely  stupefied  by  previous  suffering,  so 
dead  to  the  usual  sensations  of  existence,  that  it  was  not 
till  the  sensibility  should  be  gradually  restored,  by  fric- 

80 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

tion  of  the  stiffened  limbs  and  other  means,  that  the 
leech  hoped  the  mists  of  the  intellect  should  at  length 
begin  to  clear  away. 

Douban  readily  undertook  to  obey  the  commands  of 
the  Emperor,  and  remained  by  the  bed  of  the  patient 
until  the  dawn  of  morning,  ready  to  support  nature  as 
far  as  the  skill  of  leechcraft  admitted. 

From  the  mutes,  much  more  accustomed  to  be  the 
executioners  of  the  Emperor's  displeasure  than  of  his 
humanity,  Douban  selected  one  man  of  milder  mood, 
and  by  Alexius's  order  made  him  understand  that  the 
task  in  which  he  was  engaged  was  to  be  kept  most 
strictly  secret,  while  the  hardened  slave  was  astonished 
to  find  that  the  attentions  paid  to  the  sick  were  to  be 
rendered  with  yet  more  mystery  than  the  bloody  oflSces 
of  death  and  torture. 

The  passive  patient  received  the  various  acts  of 
attention  which  were  rendered  to  him  in  silence;  and 
if  not  totally  without  consciousness,  at  least  without 
a  distinct  comprehension  of  their  object.  After  the 
soothing  operation  of  the  bath,  and  the  voluptuous 
exchange  of  the  rude  and  musty  pile  of  straw  on  which 
he  had  stretched  himself  for  years  for  a  couch  of  the 
softest  down,  Ursel  was  presented  with  a  sedative 
draught,  slightly  tinctured  with  an  opiate.  The  balmy 
restorer  of  nature  came  thus  invoked,  and  the  captive 
sunk  into  a  delicious  slumber  long  unknown  to  him, 
and  which  seemed  to  occupy  equally  his  mental  facul- 
ties and  his  bodily  frame,  while  the  features  were  re- 
leased from  their  rigid  tenor,  and  the  posture  of  the 
limbs,  no  longer  disturbed  by  fits  of  cramp  and  sud- 
den and  agonizing  twists  and  throes,  seemed  changed 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

for  a  placid  state  of  the  most  perfect  ease  and  tran- 
quillity. 

The  morn  was  already  colouring  the  horizon,  and  the 
freshness  of  the  breeze  of  dawn  had  insinuated  itself 
into  the  lofty  halls  of  the  Palace  of  the  Blacquernal, 
when  a  gentle  tap  at  the  door  of  the  chamber  awakened 
Douban,  who,  undisturbed  from  the  calm  state  of  his 
patient,  had  indulged  himself  in  a  brief  repose.  The  door 
opened,  and  a  figure  appeared,  disguised  in  the  robes 
worn  by  an  ofl&cer  of  the  palace,  and  concealed  beneath 
an  artificial  beard  of  great  size,  and  of  a  white  colour, 
the  features  of  the  Emperor  himself.  'Douban,'  said 
Alexius, '  how  fares  it  with  thy  patient,  whose  safety  is 
this  day  of  such  consequence  to  the  Grecian  state? ' 

'Well,  my  lord,'  replied  the  physician  —  'excellently 
well;  and  if  he  is  not  now  disturbed,  I  will  wager  what- 
ever skill  I  possess  that  nature,  assisted  by  the  art  of  the 
physician,  will  triumph  over  the  damps  and  the  unwhole- 
some air  of  the  impure  dungeon.  Only  be  prudent,  my 
lord,  and  let  not  an  untimely  haste  bring  this  Ursel  for- 
ward into  the  contest  ere  he  has  arranged  the  disturbed 
current  of  his  ideas,  and  recovered,  in  some  degree,  the 
spring  of  his  mind  and  the  powers  of  his  body.' 

'I  will  rule  my  impatience,'  said  the  Emperor,  'or 
rather,  Douban,  I  will  be  ruled  by  thee.  Thinkst  thou  he 
is  awake? ' 

'I  am  inclined  to  think  so,'  said  the  leech,  'but  he  opens 
not  his  eyes,  and  seems  to  me  as  if  he  absolutely  resisted 
the  natural  impulse  to  rouse  himself  and  look  around 
him.' 

'Speak  to  him,'  said  the  Emperor,  'and  let  us  know 
what  is  passing  in  his  mind.' 

82 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'It  is  at  some  risk,'  replied  the  physician,  'but  you 
shall  be  obeyed.  Ursel,'  he  said,  approaching  the  bed  of 
his  blind  patient;  and  then,  in  a  louder  tone,  he  repeated 
again  —  '  Ursel  —  Ursel ! ' 

'Peace  —  hush!'  muttered  the  patient;  'disturb  not 
the  blest  in  their  ecstasy,  nor  again  recall  the  most 
miserable  of  mortals  to  finish  the  draught  of  bitterness 
which  his  fate  had  compelled  him  to  commence.' 

'Again  —  again,'  said  the  Emperor,  aside  to  Douban 
— '  try  him  yet  again;  it  is  of  importance  for  me  to  know 
in  what  degree  he  possesses  his  senses,  or  in  what  meas- 
ure they  have  disappeared  from  him.' 

'I  would  not,  however,'  said  the  physician,  'be  the 
rash  and  guilty  person  who,  by  an  ill-timed  urgency, 
should  produce  a  total  alienation  of  mind,  and  plunge 
him  back  either  into  absolute  lunacy  or  produce  a  stupor 
in  which  he  might  remain  for  a  long  period.' 

'Surely  not,'  replied  the  Emperor;  'my  commands  are 
those  of  one  Christian  to  another,  nor  do  I  wish  them 
further  obeyed  than  as  they  are  consistent  with  the 
laws  of  God  and  man.' 

He  paused  for  a  moment  after  this  declaration,  and 
yet  but  few  minutes  had  elapsed  ere  he  again  urged  the 
leech  to  pursue  the  interrogation  of  his  patient.  '  If  you 
hold  me  not  competent,'  said  Douban,  somewhat  vain 
of  the  trust  necessarily  reposed  in  him,  'to  judge  of  the 
treatment  of  my  patient,  your  Imperial  Highness  must 
take  the  risk  and  the  trouble  upon  yourself.' 

'Marry,  I  shall,'  said  the  Emperor,  'for  the  scruples 
of  leeches  are  not  to  be  indulged  when  the  fate  of  king- 
doms and  the  lives  of  monarchs  are  placed  against  them 
in  the  scales.  Rouse  thee,  my  noble  Ursel;  hear  a  voice 

83 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

with  which  thy  ears  were  once  well  acquainted  welcome 
thee  back  to  glory  and  command.  Look  around  thee, 
and  see  how  the  world  smiles  to  welcome  thee  back  from 
imprisonment  to  empire.' 

'Cunning  fiend,'  said  Ursel,  'who  usest  the  most  wily 
baits,  in  order  to  augment  the  misery  of  the  wretched! 
Know,  tempter,  that  I  am  conscious  of  the  whole  trick 
of  the  soothing  images  of  last  night  —  thy  baths,  thy 
beds,  and  thy  bowers  of  bliss;  but  sooner  shalt  thou  be 
able  to  bring  a  smile  upon  the  cheek  of  St.  Anthony  the 
Eremite  than  induce  me  to  curl  mine  after  the  fashion 
of  earthly  voluptuaries.' 

'Try  it,  foolish  man,'  insisted  the  Emperor,  'and  trust 
to  the  evidence  of  thy  senses  for  the  reality  of  the  pleas- 
ures by  which  thou  art  now  surrounded ;  or,  if  thou  art 
obstinate  in  thy  lack  of  faith,  tarry  as  thou  art  for  a  single 
moment,  and  I  will  bring  with  me  a  being  so  unparalleled 
in  her  loveliness  that  a  single  glance  of  her  were  worth 
the  restoration  of  thine  eyes,  were  it  only  to  look  upon 
her  for  a  moment.'  So  saying,  he  left  the  apartment. 

'Traitor,'  said  Ursel,  'and  deceiver  of  old, bring  no  one 
hither;  and  strive  not,  by  shadowy  and  ideal  forms  of 
beauty,  to  increase  the  delusion  that  gilds  my  prison- 
house  for  a  moment,  in  order,  doubtless,  to  destroy 
totally  the  spark  of  reason,  and  then  exchange  this 
earthly  hell  for  a  dungeon  in  the  infernal  regions  them- 
selves.' 

'His  mind  is  somewhat  shattered,'  mused  the  physi- 
cian, 'which  is  often  the  consequence  of  a  long  solitary 
confinement.  I  marvel  much,'  was  his  further  thought, 
'if  the  Emperor  can  shape  out  any  rational  service 
which  this  man  can  render  him,  after  being  so  long  im- 

84 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

mured  in  so  horrible  a  dungeon.  Thou  thinkest,  then/ 
continued  he,  addressing  the  patient,  'that  the  seeming 
release  of  last  night,  with  its  baths  and  refreshments, 
was  only  a  delusive  dream,  without  any  reality? ' 

'Ay  —  what  else?'  answered  Ursel. 

'And  that  the  arousing  thyself,  as  we  desire  thee  to  do, 
would  be  but  a  resigning  to  a  vain  temptation,  in  order 
to  wake  to  more  unhappiness  than  formerly? ' 

'Even  so,'  returned  the  patient. 

'What,  then,  are  thy  thoughts  of  the  Emperor,  by 
whose  command  thou  suff erest  so  severe  a  restraint? ' 

Perhaps  Douban  wished  he  had  forborne  this  ques- 
tion, for,  in  the  very  moment  when  he  put  it,  the  door  of 
the  chamber  opened,  and  the  Emperor  entered,  with  his 
daughter  hanging  upon  his  arm,  dressed  with  simplicity, 
yet  with  becoming  splendour.  She  had  found  time,  it 
seems,  to  change  her  dress  for  a  white  robe,  which  re- 
sembled a  kind  of  mourning,  the  chief  ornament  of  which 
was  a  diamond  chaplet,  of  inestimable  value,  which  sur- 
rounded and  bound  the  long  sable  tresses,  that  reached 
from  her  head  to  her  waist.  Terrified  almost  to  death, 
she  had  been  surprised  by  her  father  in  the  company  of 
her  husband  the  Caesar  and  her  mother;  and  the  same 
thundering  mandate  had  at  once  ordered  Briennius,  in 
the  character  of  a  more  than  suspected  traitor,  under 
the  custody  of  a  strong  guard  of  Varangians  and  com- 
manded her  to  attend  her  father  to  the  bedchamber  of 
Ursel,  in  which  she  now  stood;  resolved,  however,  that 
she  would  stick  by  the  sinking  fortunes  of  her  husband, 
even  in  the  last  extremity,  yet  no  less  determined  that 
she  would  not  rely  upon  her  own  entreaties  or  remon- 
strances until  she  should  see  whether  her  father's  inter- 

85 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ference  was  likely  to  reassume  a  resolved  and  positive 
character.  Hastily  as  the  plans  of  Alexius  had  been 
formed,  and  hastily  as  they  had  been  discon'certed  by 
accident,  there  remained  no  slight  chance  that  he  might 
be  forced  to  come  round  to  the  purpose  on  which  his  wife 
and  daughter  had  fixed  their  heart,  the  forgiveness, 
namely,  of  the  guilty  Nicephorus  Briennius.  To  his 
astonishment,  and  not  perhaps  greatly  to  his  satisfac- 
tion, he  heard  the  patient  deeply  engaged  with  the  phy- 
sician in  canvassing  his  own  character. 

'Think  not,'  said  Ursel  in  reply  to  him,  'that,  though 
I  am  immured  in  this  dungeon,  and  treated  as  something 
worse  than  an  outcast  of  humanity  —  and  although  I 
am,  moreover,  deprived  of  my  eyesight,  the  dearest  gift 
of  Heaven  —  think  not,  I  say,  though  I  suffer  all  this 
by  the  cruel  will  of  Alexius  Comnenus,  that  therefore  I 
hold  him  to  be  mine  enemy;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  by  his 
means  that  the  blinded  and  miserable  prisoner  has  been 
taught  to  seek  a  liberty  far  more  unconstrained  than  this 
poor  earth  can  afford,  and  a  vision  far  more  clear  than 
any  Mount  Pisgah  on  this  wretched  side  of  the  grave 
can  give  us.  Shall  I  therefore  account  the  Emperor 
among  mine  enemies  —  he  who  has  taught  me  the  vanity 
of  earthly  things,  the  nothingness  of  earthly  enjoyments, 
and  the  pure  hope  of  a  better  world,  as  a  certain  ex- 
change for  the  misery  of  the  present?  No.' 

The  Emperor  had  stood  somewhat  disconcerted  at 
the  beginning  of  this  speech,  but  hearing  it  so  very  unex- 
pectedly terminate,  as  he  was  willing  to  suppose,  much 
in  his  own  favour,  he  threw  himself  into  an  attitude 
which  was  partly  that  of  a  modest  person  listening  to 
his  own  praises,  and  partly  that  of  a  man  highly  struck 

86 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

with  the  commendations  heaped  upon  him  by  a  generous 
adversary. 

*My  friend/  he  said  aloud,  'how  truly  do  you  read  my 
purpose,  when  you  suppose  that  the  knowledge  which 
men  of  your  disposition  can  extract  from  evil  was  all  the 
experience  which  I  wished  you  to  derive  from  a  cap- 
tivity protracted  by  adverse  circumstances  far  —  very 
far  beyond  my  wishes!  Let  me  embrace  the  generous 
man  who  knows  so  well  how  to  construe  the  purpose  of  a 
perplexed  but  still  faithful  friend.' 

The  patient  raised  himself  in  his  bed. 

'Hold,  there,' he  said;  'methinks  my  faculties  begin 
to  collect  themselves.  Yes,'  he  muttered,  'that  is  the 
treacherous  voice  which  first  bid  me  welcome  as  a  friend, 
and  then  commanded  fiercely  that  I  should  be  deprived 
of  the  sight  of  my  eyes.  Increase  thy  rigour  if  thou  wilt, 
Comnenus  —  add,  if  thou  canst,  to  the  torture  of  my 
confinement;  but,  since  I  cannot  see  thy  hypocritical 
and  inhuman  features,  spare  me,  in  mercy,  the  sound  of  a 
voice  more  distressing  to  mine  ear  than  toads,  than  ser- 
pents, than  whatever  nature  has  most  offensive  and 
disgusting.' 

This  speech  was  delivered  with  so  much  energy,  that 
it  was  in  vain  that  the  Emperor  strove  to  interrupt  its 
tenor,  although  he  himself,  as  well  as  Douban  and  his 
daughter,  heard  a  great  deal  more  of  the  language  of  un- 
adorned and  natural  passion  than  he  had  counted  upon, 

'Raise  thy  head,  rash  man,'  he  said,  'and  charm  thy 
tongue,  ere  it  proceed  in  a  strain  which  may  cost  thee 
dear.  Look  at  me,  and  see  if  I  have  not  reserved  a  reward 
capable  of  atoning  for  all  the  evil  which  thy  folly  may 
charge  to  my  account.' 

87 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Hitherto  the  prisoner  had  remained  with  his  eyes 
obstinately  shut,  regarding  the  imperfect  recollection  he 
had  of  sights  which  had  been  before  his  eyes  the  fore- 
going evening  as  the  mere  suggestion  of  a  deluded  imagi- 
nation, if  not  actually  presented  by  some  seducing  spirit. 
But  now,  when  his  eyes  fairly  encountered  the  stately 
figure  of  the  Emperor,  and  the  graceful  form  of  his  lovely 
daughter,  painted  in  the  tender  rays  of  the  morning 
dawn,  he  ejaculated  faintly,  *I  see  —  I  see!'  and  with 
that  ejaculation  fell  back  on  the  pillow  in  a  swoon,  which 
instantly  found  employment  for  Douban  and  his  restora- 
tives. 

*  A  most  wonderful  cure  indeed! '  exclaimed  the  physi- 
cian, 'and  the  height  of  my  wishes  would  be  to  possess 
such  another  miraculous  restorative.' 

'  Fool ! '  said  the  Emperor ; '  canst  thou  not  conceive  that 
what  has  never  been  taken  away  is  restored  with  little 
difficulty?  He  was  made,'  he  said,  lowering  his  voice,  *to 
undergo  a  painful  operation,  which  led  him  to  believe 
that  the  organs  of  sight  were  destroyed;  and  as  light 
scarcely  ever  visited  him,  and  when  it  did,  only  in  doubt- 
ful and  almost  invisible  glimmerings,  the  prevailing 
darkness,  both  physical  and  mental,  that  surrounded 
him  prevented  him  from  being  sensible  of  the  existence 
of  that  precious  faculty,  of  which  he  imagined  himself 
bereft.  Perhaps  thou  wilt  ask  my  reason  for  inflicting 
upon  him  so  strange  a  deception?  Simply  it  was  that, 
being  by  it  conceived  incapable  of  reigning,  his  memory 
might  pass  out  of  the  minds  of  the  public,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  I  reserved  his  eyesight,  that,  in  case  occasion 
should  call,  it  might  be  in  my  power  once  more  to  liber- 
ate him  from  his  dungeon,  and  employ,  as  I  now  propose 

88 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

to  do,  his  courage  and  talents  in  the  service  of  the  em- 
pire, to  counterbalance  those  of  other  conspirators.' 

*And  can  your  Imperial  Highness,'  said  Douban, 
'hope  that  you  have  acquired  this  man's  duty  and  affec- 
tion by  the  conduct  you  have  observed  to  him? ' 

*I  cannot  tell,'  answered  the  Emperor;  'that  must  be 
as  futurity  shall  determine.  All  I  know  is,  that  it  is  no 
fault  of  mine  if  Ursel  does  not  reckon  freedom  and  a  long 
course  of  empire  —  perhaps  sanctioned  by  an  alliance 
with  our  own  blood  —  and  the  continued  enjoyment  of 
the  precious  organs  of  eyesight,  of  which  a  less  scrupu- 
lous man  would  have  deprived  him,  against  a  maimed 
and  darkened  existence.' 

'Since  such  is  your  Highness's  opinion  and  resolution,' 
said  Douban,  '  it  is  for  me  to  aid  and  not  to  counteract 
it.  Permit  me,  therefore,  to  pray  your  Highness  and  the 
Princess  to  withdraw,  that  I  may  use  such  remedies  as 
may  confirm  a  mind  which  has  been  so  strangely  shaken, 
and  restore  to  him  fully  the  use  of  those  eyes  of  which 
he  has  been  so  long  deprived.' 

'I  am  content,  Douban,'  said  the  Emperor;  'but  take 
notice,  Ursel  is  not  totally  at  liberty  until  he  has  ex- 
pressed the  resolution  to  become  actually  mine.  It  may 
behoove  both  him  and  thee  to  know  that,  although  there 
is  no  purpose  of  remitting  him  to  the  dungeons  of  the 
Blacquernal  Palace,  yet  if  he,  or  any  on  his  part,  should 
aspire  to  head  a  party  in  these  feverish  times,  by  the 
honour  of  a  gentleman,  to  swear  a  Prankish  oath,  he 
shall  find  that  he  is  not  out  of  the  reach  of  the  battle-axes 
of  my  Varangians.  I  trust  to  thee  to  communicate  this 
fact,  which  concerns  alike  him  and  all  who  have  interest 
in  his  fortunes.   Come,  daughter,  we  will  withdraw,  and 

89 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

leave  the  leech  with  his  patient.  Take  notice,  Douban,  it 
is  of  importance  that  you  acquaint  me  the  very  first 
moment  when  the  patient  can  hold  rational  communi- 
cation with  me.' 

Alexius  and  his  accomplished  daughter  departed  ac- 
cordingly. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity, 

Which,  like  the  toad,  ugly  and  venomous. 

Wears  yet  a  precious  jewel  in  bis  head. 

As  You  Like  It. 


From  a  terraced  roof  of  the  Blacquernal  Palace,  accessi- 
ble by  a  sash-door,  which  opened  from  the  bedchamber 
of  Ursel,  there  was  commanded  one  of  the  most  lovely 
and  striking  views  which  the  romantic  neighbourhood 
of  Constantinople  afforded. 

After  suffering  him  to  repose  and  rest  his  agitated 
faculties,  it  was  to  this  place  that  the  physician  led  his 
patient;  for,  when  somewhat  composed,  he  had  of  him- 
self requested  to  be  permitted  to  verify  the  truth  of  his 
restored  eyesight  by  looking  out  once  more  upon  the 
majestic  face  of  nature. 

On  the  one  hand,  the  scene  which  he  beheld  was  a 
masterpiece  of  human  art.  The  proud  city,  ornamented 
with  stately  buildings,  as  became  the  capital  of  the 
world,  showed  a  succession  of  glittering  spires  and  orders 
of  architecture,  some  of  them  chaste  and  simple,  like 
those  the  capitals  of  which  were  borrowed  from  baskets- 
full  of  acanthus;  some  deriving  the  fluting  of  their  shafts 
from  the  props  made  originally  to  support  the  lances  of 
the  earlier  Greeks  —  forms  simple,  yet  more  graceful  in 
their  simplicity  than  any  which  human  ingenuity  has 
been  able  since  to  invent.  With  the  most  splendid  speci- 
mens which  ancient  art  could  afford  of  those  strictly 
classical  models  were  associated  those  of  a  later   age, 

91 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

where  more  modern  taste  had  endeavoured  at  improve- 
ment, and,  by  mixing  the  various  orders,  had  produced 
such  as  were  either  composite  or  totally  out  of  rule.  The 
size  of  the  buildings  in  which  they  were  displayed,  how- 
ever, procured  them  respect;  nor  could  even  the  most 
perfect  judge  of  architecture  avoid  being  struck  by  the 
grandeur  of  their  extent  and  effect,  although  hurt  by  the 
incorrectness  of  the  taste  in  which  they  were  executed. 
Arches  of  triumph,  towers,  obelisks,  and  spires,  designed 
for  various  purposes,  rose  up  into  the  air  in  confused 
magnificence;  while  the  lower  view  was  filled  by  the 
streets  of  the  city,  the  domestic  habitations  forming 
long  narrow  alleys,  on  either  side  of  which  the  houses 
arose  to  various  and  unequal  heights,  but,  being  gener- 
ally finished  with  terraced  coverings,  thickset  with 
plants  and  flowers,  and  fountains,  had,  when  seen  from 
an  eminence,  a  more  noble  and  interesting  aspect  than  is 
ever  afforded  by  the  sloping  and  uniform  roofs  of  streets 
in  the  capitals  of  the  north  of  Europe. 

It  has  taken  us  some  time  to  give  in  words  the  idea 
which  was  at  a  single  glance  conveyed  to  Ursel,  and 
affected  him  at  first  with  great  pain.  His  eyeballs  had 
been  long  strangers  to  that  daily  exercise  which  teaches 
us  the  habit  of  correcting  the  scenes  as  they  appear  to 
our  sight,  by  the  knowledge  which  we  derive  from  the  use 
of  our  other  senses.  His  idea  of  distance  was  so  confused 
that  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  spires,  turrets,  and  minarets 
which  he  beheld  were  crowded  forward  upon  his  eyeballs, 
and  almost  touching  them.  With  a  shriek  of  horror, 
Ursel  turned  himself  to  the  further  side,  and  cast  his 
eyes  upon  a  different  scene.  Here  also  he  saw  towers, 
steeples,  and  turrets,  but  they  were  those  of  the  churches 

92 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  public  buildings  beneath  his  feet,  reflected  from  the 
dazzling  piece  of  water  which  formed  the  harbour  of 
Constantinople,  and  which,  from  the  abundance  of 
wealth  which  it  transported  to  the  city,  was  well  termed 
the  Golden  Horn.  In  one  place,  this  superb  basin  was 
lined  with  quays,  where  stately  dromonds  and  argosies 
unloaded  their  wealth;  while,  by  the  shore  of  the  haven, 
galleys,  feluccas,  and  other  small  craft  idly  flapped  the 
singularly  shaped  and  snow-white  pinions  which  served 
them  for  sails.  In  other  places,  the  Golden  Horn  lay 
shrouded  in  a  verdant  mantle  of  trees,  where  the  private 
gardens  of  wealthy  or  distinguished  individuals,  or  places 
of  public  recreation,  shot  down  upon  and  were  bounded 
by  the  glassy  waters. 

On  the  Bosphorus,  which  might  be  seen  in  the  dis- 
tance, the  Httle  fleet  of  Tancred  was  lying  in  the  same 
station  they  had  gained  during  the  night,  which  was 
fitted  to  command  the  opposite  landing;  this  their  gen- 
eral had  preferred  to  a  midnight  descent  upon  Con- 
stantinople, not  knowing  whether,  so  coming,  they 
might  be  received  as  friends  or  enemies.  This  delay, 
however,  had  given  the  Greeks  an  opportunity,  either 
by  the  orders  of  Alexius  or  the  equally  powerful  man- 
dates of  some  of  the  conspirators,  to  tow  six  ships  of  war, 
full  of  armed  men,  and  provided  with  the  maritime  of- 
fensive weapons  pecuHar  to  the  Greeks  at  that  period, 
which  they  had  moored  so  as  exactly  to  cover  the  place 
where  the  troops  of  Tancred  must  necessarily  land. 

This  preparation  gave  some  surprise  to  the  valiant 
Tancred,  who  did  not  know  that  such  vessels  had  arrived 
in  the  harbour  from  Lemnos  on  the  preceding  night.  The 
undaunted  courage  of  that  prince  was,  however,  in  no 

93 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

respect  to  be  shaken  by  the  degree  of  unexpected  danger 
with  which  his  adventure  now  appeared  to  be  attended. 

This  splendid  view,  from  the  description  of  which  we 
have  in  some  degree  digressed,  was  seen  by  the  physician 
and  Ursel  from  a  terrace,  the  loftiest  almost  on  the  Pal- 
ace of  the  Blacquernal.  To  the  cityward,  it  was  bounded 
by  a  solid  wall  of  considerable  height,  giving  a  resting- 
place  for  the  roof  of  a  lower  building,  which,  sloping  out- 
ward, broke  to  the  view  the  vast  height,  unobscured  other- 
wise save  by  a  high  and  massy  balustrade,  composed  of 
bronze,  which,  to  the  havenward,  sunk  sheer  down  upon 
an  uninterrupted  precipice. 

No  sooner,  therefore,  had  Ursel  turned  his  eyes  that 
way  than,  though  placed  far  from  the  brink  of  the  ter- 
race, he  exclaimed,  with  a  shriek,  *  Save  me  —  save  me, 
if  you  are  not  indeed  the  destined  executors  of  the  Em- 
peror's will.' 

'  We  are  indeed  such,'  saidDouban, '  to  save  and  if  pos- 
sible to  bring  you  to  complete  recovery;  but  by  no 
means  to  do  you  injury,  or  to  suffer  it  to  be  offered  by 
others.' 

'Guard  me  then  from  myself,'  said  Ursel,  'and  save 
me  from  the  reeling  and  insane  desire  which  I  feel  to 
plunge  myself  into  the  abyss  to  the  edge  of  which  you 
have  guided  me.' 

*  Such  a  giddy  and  dangerous  temptation  is,'  said  the 
physician,  'common  to  those  who  have  not  for  a  long 
time  looked  down  from  precipitous  heights,  and  are  sud- 
denly brought  to  them.  Nature,  however  bounteous, 
hath  not  provided  for  the  cessation  of  our  faculties  for 
years  and  for  their  sudden  resumption  in  full  strength 
and  vigour.  An  interval,  longer  or  shorter,  must  needs 

94 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

intervene.  Can  you  not  believe  this  terrace  a  safe  sta- 
tion while  you  have  my  support  and  that  of  this  faithful 
slave? ' 

'Certainly,'  said  Ursel;  'but  permit  me  to  turn  my 
face  towards  this  stone  wall,  for  I  cannot  bear  to  look  at 
the  flimsy  piece  of  wire  which  is  the  only  battlement  of 
defence  that  interposes  betwixt  me  and  the  precipice.' 
He  spoke  of  the  bronze  balustrade,  six  feet  high,  and 
massive  in  proportion.  Thus  saying,  and  holding  fast  by 
the  physician's  arm,  Ursel,  though  himseK  a  younger 
and  more  able  man,  trembled,  and  moved  his  feet  as 
slowly  as  if  made  of  lead,  until  he  reached  the  sashed- 
door,  where  stood  a  kind  of  balcony-seat,  in  which  he 
placed  himself.  'Here,'  he  said,  'will  I  remain.' 

'And  here,'  said  Douban,  'will  I  make  the  communica- 
tion of  the  Emperor,  which  it  is  necessary  you  should  be 
prepared  to  reply  to.  It  places  you,  you  will  observe,  at 
your  own  disposal  for  liberty  or  captivity,  but  it  condi- 
tions for  your  resigning  that  sweet  but  sinful  morsel 
termed  revenge,  which,  I  must  not  conceal  from  you, 
chance  appears  willing  to  put  into  your  hand.  You  know 
the  degree  of  rivalry  in  which  you  have  been  held  by  the 
Emperor,  and  you  know  the  measure  of  evil  you  have 
sustained  at  his  hand.  The  question  is,  Can  you  forgive 
what  has  taken  place? ' 

'Let  me  wrap  my  head  round  with  my  mantle,'  said 
Ursel,  '  to  dispel  this  dizziness  which  still  oppresses  my 
poor  brain,  and  as  soon  as  the  power  of  recollection  is 
granted  to  me,  you  shall  know  my  sentiments.' 

He  sunk  upon  the  seat,  mufiled  in  the  way  which  he 
described,  and  after  a  few  minutes'  reflection,  with  a 
trepidation  which  argued  the  patient  still  to  be  under 

95 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  nervous  feeling  of  extreme  horror  mixed  with  terror, 
he  addressed  Douban  thus  —  '  The  operation  of  wrong 
and  cruelty,  in  the  moment  when  they  are  first  inflicted, 
excites,  of  course,  the  utmost  resentment  of  the  sufferer; 
nor  is  there,  perhaps,  a  passion  which  liyes  so  long  in  his 
bosom  as  the  natural  desire  of  revenge.  If,  then,  during 
the  first  month,  when  I  lay  stretched  upon  my  bed  of 
want  and  misery,  you  had  offered  me  an  opportunity  of 
revenge  upon  my  cruel  oppressor,  the  remnant  of  miser- 
able life  which  remained  to  me  should  have  been  willingly 
bestowed  to  purchase  it.  But  a  suffering  of  weeks,  or 
even  months,  must  not  be  compared  in  effect  with  that 
of  years.  For  a  short  space  of  endurance,  the  body,  as 
well  as  the  mind,  retains  that  vigorous  habit  which  holds 
the  prisoner  still  connected  with  life,  and  teaches  him  to 
thrill  at  the  long-forgotten  chain  of  hopes,  of  wishes,  of 
disappointments,  and  mortifications  which  affected  his 
former  existence.  But  the  wounds  become  callous  as 
they  harden,  and  other  and  better  feelings  occupy  their 
place,  while  they  gradually  die  away  in  forgetfulness. 
The  enjoyments,  the  amusements  of  this  world  occupy 
no  part  of  his  time  upon  whom  the  gates  of  despair  have 
once  closed.  I  tell  thee,  my  kind  physician,  that  for  a 
season,  in  an  insane  attempt  to  effect  my  hberty,  I  cut 
through  a  large  portion  of  the  living  rock.  But  Heaven 
cured  me  of  so  foolish  an  idea ;  and  if  I  did  not  actually 
come  to  love  Alexius  Comnenus  —  for  how  could  that 
have  been  a  possible  effect  in  any  rational  state  of  my 
intellects?  —  yet,  as  I  became  convinced  of  my  own 
crimes,  sins,  and  follies,  the  more  and  more  I  was  also 
persuaded  that  Alexius  was  but  the  agent  through  whom 
Heaven  exercised  a  dearly-purchased  right  of  jmnishing 

96 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

me  for  my  manifold  offences  and  transgressions;  and  that 
it  was  not  therefore  upon  the  Emperor  that  my  resent- 
ment ought  to  visit  itself.  And  I  can  now  say  to  thee 
that,  so  far  as  a  man  who  has  undergone  so  dreadful  a 
change  can  be  supposed  to  know  his  own  mind,  I  feel  no 
desire  either  to  rival  Alexius  in  a  race  for  empire  or  to 
avail  myself  of  any  of  the  various  proffers  which  he  pro- 
poses to  me  as  the  price  of  withdrawing  my  claim.  Let 
him  keep  unpurchased  the  crown,  for  which  he  has  paid, 
in  my  opinion, a  price  which  it  is  not  worth.' 

'This  is  extraordinary  stoicism,  noble  Ursel,'  an- 
swered the  physician  Douban.  'Am  I  then  to  under- 
stand that  you  reject  the  fair  offers  of  Alexius,  and  de- 
sire, instead  of  all  which  he  is  willing,  nay,  anxious,  to 
bestow,  to  be  committed  safely  back  to  thy  old  blinded 
dungeon  in  the  Blacquernal,  that  you  may  continue  at 
ease  those  pietistic  meditations  which  have  already  con- 
ducted thee  to  so  extravagant  a  conclusion? ' 

'Physician,'  said  Ursel,  while  a  shuddering  fit  that  af- 
fected his  whole  body  testified  his  alarm  at  the  alterna- 
tive proposed, '  one  would  imagine  thine  own  profession 
might  have  taught  thee  that  no  mere  mortal  man,  unless 
predestined  to  be  a  glorified  saint,  could  ever  prefer 
darkness  to  the  light  of  day,  bhndness  itself  to  the  en- 
joyment of  the  power  of  sight,  the  pangs  of  starving  to 
competent  sustenance,  or  the  damps  of  a  dungeon  to  the 
free  air  of  God's  creation.  No!  it  may  be  virtue  to  do 
so,  but  to  such  a  pitch  mine  does  not  soar.  All  I  require 
of  the  Emperor  for  standing  by  him  with  all  the  power 
my  name  can  give  him  at  this  crisis  is,  that  he  will  pro- 
vide for  my  reception  as  a  monk  in  some  of  those  pleas- 
ant and  well-endowed  seminaries  of  piety  to  which  his 

44  97 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

devotion,  or  his  fears,  have  given  rise.  Let  me  not  be 
again  the  object  of  his  suspicion,  the  operation  of  which 
is  more  dreadful  than  that  of  being  the  object  of  his  hate. 
Forgotten  by  power,  as  I  have  myself  lost  the  remem- 
brance of  those  that  wielded  it,  let  me  find  my  way  to 
the  grave,  unnoticed,  unconstrained,  at  liberty,  in  pos- 
session of  my  dim  and  disused  organs  of  sight,  and,  above 
all,  at  peace/ 

*If  such  be  thy  serious  and  earnest  wish,  noble  Ursel,' 
said  the  physician,  '  I  myself  have  no  hesitation  to  war- 
rant to  thee  the  full  accomplishment  of  thy  religious  and 
moderate  desires.  But,  bethink  thee,  thou  art  once  more 
an  inhabitant  of  the  court,  in  which  thou  mayst  obtain 
what  thou  wilt  to-day,  while  to-morrow,  shouldst  thou 
regret  thy  indifference,  it  may  be  thy  utmost  entreaty 
will  not  suffice  to  gain  for  thee  the  slightest  extension  of 
thy  present  conditions.' 

*Be  it  so,'  said  Ursel;  *  I  will  then  stipulate  for  another 
condition,  which  indeed  has  only  reference  to  this  day. 
I  will  solicit  his  Imperial  Majesty,  with  all  humility,  to 
spare  me  the  pain  of  a  personal  treaty  between  himself 
and  me,  and  that  he  will  be  satisfied  with  the  solemn 
assurance  that  I  am  most  willing  to  do  in  his  favour  all 
that  he  is  desirous  of  dictating ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
I  desire  only  the  execution  of  those  moderate  conditions 
of  my  future  aUment  which  I  have  already  told  thee  at 
length.' 

'But  wherefore,'  said  Douban,  'shouldst  thou  be 
afraid  of  announcing  to  the  Emperor  thy  disposition  to 
an  agreement  which  cannot  be  esteemed  otherwise  than 
extremely  moderate  on  thy  part?  Indeed,  I  fear  the 
Emperor  will  insist  on  a  brief  personal  conference.' 

98 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

*I  am  not  ashamed,'  said  Ursel,  'to  confess  the  truth. 
It  is  true  that  I  have,  or  think  I  have,  renounced  what 
the  Scripture  calls  the  pride  of  life;  but  the  old  Adam 
still  Hves  within  us,  and  maintains  against  the  better 
part  of  our  nature  an  inextinguishable  quarrel,  easy  to 
be  aroused  from  its  slumber,  but  as  difficult  to  be  again 
couched  in  peace.  While  last  night  I  but  half  understood 
that  mine  enemy  was  in  my  presence,  and  while  my  facul- 
ties performed  but  half  their  duty  in  recalling  his  deceit- 
ful and  hated  accents,  did  not  my  heart  throb  in  my 
bosom  with  all  the  agitation  of  a  taken  bird,  and  shall 
I  again  have  to  enter  into  a  personal  treaty  with  the  man 
who,  be  his  general  conduct  what  it  may,  has  been  the 
constant  and  unprovoked  cause  of  my  unequalled  mis- 
ery? Douban,  no !  to  listen  to  his  voice  again  were  to  hear 
an  alarm  sounded  to  every  violent  and  vindictive  passion 
of  my  heart;  and  though,  may  Heaven  so  help  me  as  my 
intentions  towards  him  are  upright,  yet  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  listen  to  his  professions  with  a  chance  of  safety 
either  to  him  or  to  myself.' 

*If  you  be  so  minded,'  replied  Douban,  'I  shall  only 
repeat  to  him  your  stipulation,  and  you  must  swear  to 
him  that  you  will  strictly  observe  it.  Without  this  being 
done,  it  must  be  difficult,  or  perhaps  impossible,  to  settle 
the  league  of  which  both  are  desirous.' 

'Amen!'  said  Ursel;  'and  as  I  am  pure  in  my  purpose, 
and  resolved  to  keep  it  to  the  uttermost,  so  may  Heaven 
guard  me  from  the  influence  of  precipitate  revenge, 
ancient  grudge,  or  new  quarrel ! ' 

An  authoritative  knock  at  the  door  of  the  sleeping- 
chamber  was  now  heard,  and  Ursel,  relieved  by  more 
powerful  feelings  from  the  giddiness  of  which  he  had  com- 

99 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

plained,  walked  firmly  into  the  bedroom,  and,  seating 
himself,  waited  with  averted  eyes  the  entrance  of  the 
person  who  demanded  admittance,  and  who  proved  to 
be  no  other  than  Alexius  Comnenus. 

The  Emperor  appeared  at  the  door  in  a  warlike 
dress,  suited  for  the  decoration  of  a  prince  who  was 
to  witness  a  combat  in  the  lists  fought  out  before 
him. 

'Sage  Douban,' he  said,  'has  our  esteemed  prisoner, 
Ursel,  made  his  choice  between  our  peace  and  enmity?' 

'He  hath,  my  lord,'  replied  the  physician,  'embraced 
the  lot  of  that  happy  portion  of  mankind  whose  hearts 
and  lives  are  devoted  to  the  service  of  your  Majesty's 
government.' 

'He  will  then  this  day,'  continued  the  Emperor, 
*  render  me  the  oflEice  of  putting  down  all  those  who  may 
pretend  to  abet  insurrection  in  his  name,  and  under  pre- 
text of  his  wrongs  ?  ' 

'He  will,  my  lord,'  replied  the  physician,  'act  to  the 
fullest  the  part  which  you  require.' 

'And  in  what  way,'  said  the  Emperor,  adopting  his 
most  gracious  tone  of  voice,  'would  our  faithful  Ursel 
desire  that  services  like  these,  rendered  in  the  hour  of 
extreme  need,  should  be  acknowledged  by  the  Em- 
peror? ' 

'Simply,'  answered  Douban,  'by  saying  nothing  upon 
the  subject.  He  desires  only  that  all  jealousies  between 
you  and  him  may  be  henceforth  forgotten,  and  that  he 
may  be  admitted  into  one  of  your  Highness's  monastic 
institutions,  with  leave  to  dedicate  the  rest  of  his  life  to 
the  worship  of  Heaven  and  its  saints.' 

'Hath  he  persuaded  thee  of  this,  Douban?'  said  the 

lOO 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Emperor,  in  a  low  and  altered  voice.  *  By  Heaven !  when 
I  consider  from  what  prison  he  was  brought,  and  in  what 
guise  he  inhabited  it,  I  cannot  believe  in  this  gall-less 
disposition.  He  must  at  least  speak  to  me  himself,  ere  I 
can  believe,  in  some  degree,  the  transformation  of  the 
fiery  Ursel  into  a  being  so  little  capable  of  feeling  the 
ordinary  impulses  of  mankind.' 

'Hear  me,  Alexius  Comnenus,'  said  the  prisoner;  'and 
so  may  thine  own  prayers  to  Heaven  find  access  and 
acceptation,  as  thou  believest  the  words  which  I  speak 
to  thee  in  simplicity  of  heart.  If  thine  empire  of  Greece 
were  made  of  coined  gold,  it  would  hold  out  no  bait  for 
my  acceptance;  nor,  I  thank  Heaven,  have  even  the 
injuries  I  have  experienced  at  thy  hand,  cruel  and  exten- 
sive as  they  have  been,  impressed  upon  me  the  slightest 
desire  of  requiting  treachery  with  treachery.  Think  of 
me  as  thou  wilt,  so  thou  seek'st  not  again  to  exchange 
words  with  me;  and  believe  me  that,  when  thou  hast 
put  me  under  the  most  rigid  of  thy  ecclesiastical  founda- 
tions, the  discipline,  the  fare,  and  the  vigils  will  be  far 
superior  to  the  existence  falling  to  the  share  of  those 
whom  the  king  delights  to  honour,  and  who  therefore 
must  afford  the  king  their  society  whenever  they  are 
summoned  to  do  so.' 

'It  is  hardly  for  me,'  said  the  physician,  'to  interpose 
in  so  high  a  matter;  yet,  as  trusted  both  by  the  noble 
Ursel  and  by  his  Highness  the  Emperor,  I  have  made  a 
brief  abstract  of  these  short  conditions  to  be  kept  by  the 
high  parties  towards  each  other,  sub  crimine  falsi.'' 

The  Emperor  protracted  the  intercourse  with  Ursel 
until  he  more  fully  explained  to  him  the  occasion  which 
he  should  have  that  very  day  for  his  services.  When  they 

lOI 

m  %mm,  state  mm. 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

parted,  Alexius,  with  a  great  show  of  affection,  embraced 
his  late  prisoner,  while  it  required  all  the  self-command 
and  stoicism  of  Ursel  to  avoid  expressing  in  plain  terms 
the  extent  to  which  he  abhorred  the  person  who  thus 
caressed  him. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

O  conspiracy! 
Sham'st  thou  to  show  thy  dangerous  brow  by  night. 
When  evils  are  most  free?   O,  then,  by  day, 
Where  wilt  thou  find  a  cavern  dark  enough 
To  mask  thy  monstrous  visage?  Seek  none,  conspiracy: 
Hide  it  in  smiles  and  affability; 
For  if  thou  path,  thy  native  semblance  on, 
Not  Erebus  itsrlf  were  dim  enough 
To  hide  thee  from  prevention. 

Julius  CtBsar. 

The  important  morning  at  last  arrived  on  which,  by  the 
imperial  proclamation,  the  combat  between  the  Csesar 
and  Robert  Count  of  Paris  was  appointed  to  take  place. 
This  was  a  circumstance  in  a  great  measure  foreign  to 
the  Grecian  manners,  and  to  which,  therefore,  the  people 
annexed  different  ideas  from  those  which  were  associ- 
ated with  the  same  solemn  decision  of  God,  as  the  Latins 
called  it,  by  the  Western  nations.  The  consequence  was 
a  vague  but  excessive  agitation  among  the  people,  who 
connected  the  extraordinary  strife  which  they  were  to 
witness  with  the  various  causes  which  had  been  whis- 
pered abroad  as  likely  to  give  occasion  to  some  general 
insurrection  of  a  great  and  terrible  nature. 

By  the  imperial  order,  regular  lists  had  been  prepared 
for  the  combat,  with  opposite  gates,  or  entrances,  as  was 
usual,  for  the  admittance  of  the  two  champions;  and  it 
was  understood  that  the  appeal  was  to  be  made  to  the 
Divinity  by  each,  according  to  the  forms  prescribed  by 
the  church  of  which  the  combatants  were  respectively 
members.  The  situation  of  these  lists  was  on  the  side  of 
the  shore  adjoining  on  the  west  to  the  continent.  At  no 

103 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

great  distance,  the  walls  of  the  city  were  seen,  of  various 
architecture,  composed  of  lime  and  of  stone,  and  fur- 
nished with  no  less  than  four-and-twenty  gates,  or  pos- 
terns, five  of  which  regarded  the  land  and  nineteen  the 
water.  All  this  formed  a  beautiful  prospect,  much  of 
which  is  still  visible.  The  town  itself  is  about  nineteen 
miles  in  circumference ;  and  as  it  is  on  all  sides  surrounded 
with  lofty  C3^resses,  its  general  appearance  is  that  of  a 
city  arising  out  of  a  stately  wood  of  these  magnificent 
trees,  partly  shrouding  the  pinnacles,  obelisks,  and  mina- 
rets which  then  marked  the  site  of  many  noble  Chris- 
tian temples,  but  now,  generally  speaking,  intimate  the 
position  of  as  many  Mohammedan  mosques. 

These  hsts,  for  the  convenience  of  spectators,  were 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  long  rows  of  seats,  sloping 
downwards.  In  the  middle  of  these  seats,  and  exactly 
opposite  the  centre  of  the  Hsts,  was  a  high  throne, 
erected  for  the  Emperor  himself,  and  which  was  sepa- 
rated from  the  more  vulgar  galleries  by  a  circuit  of 
wooden  barricades,  which  an  experienced  eye  could  per- 
ceive might,  in  case  of  need,  be  made  serviceable  for  pur- 
poses of  defence. 

The  lists  were  sixty  yards  in  length,  by  perhaps  about 
forty  in  breadth,  and  these  afforded  ample  space  for  the 
exercise  of  the  combat,  both  on  horseback  and  on  foot. 
Numerous  bands  of  the  Greek  citizens  began,  with  the 
very  break  of  day,  to  issue  from  the  gates  and  posterns 
of  the  city,  to  examine  and  wonder  at  the  construction 
of  the  lists,  pass  their  criticisms  upon  the  purposes  of 
the  peculiar  parts  of  the  fabric,  and  occupy  places,  to 
secure  them  for  the  spectacle.  Shortly  after  arrived  a 
large  band  of  those  soldiers  who  were  called  the  Roman 

104 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

Immortals.  These  entered  without  ceremony,  and 
placed  themselves  on  either  hand  of  the  wooden  barri- 
cade which  fenced  the  Emperor's  seat.  Some  of  them 
took  even  a  greater  liberty;  for,  affecting  to  be  pressed 
against  the  boundary,  there  were  individuals  who  ap- 
proached the  partition  itself,  and  seemed  to  meditate 
climbing  over  it,  and  placing  themselves  on  the  same  side 
with  the  Emperor.  Some  old  domestic  slaves  of  the 
household  now  showed  themselves,  as  if  for  the  purpose 
of  preserving  this  sacred  circle  for  Alexius  and  his  court; 
and,  in  proportion  as  the  Immortals  began  to  show 
themselves  encroaching  and  turbulent,  the  strength  of 
the  defenders  of  the  prohibited  precincts  seemed  gradu- 
ally to  increase. 

There  was,  though  scarcely  to  be  observed,  besides 
the  grand  access  to  the  imperial  seat  from  without, 
another  opening  also  from  the  outside,  secured  by  a  very 
strong  door,  by  which  different  persons  received  admis- 
sion beneath  the  seats  destined  for  the  imperial  party. 
These  persons,  by  their  length  of  limb,  breadth  of  shoul- 
ders, by  the  fur  of  their  cloaks,  and  especially  by  the 
redoubted  battle-axes  which  all  of  them  bore,  appeared 
to  be  Varangians ;  but,  although  neither  dressed  in  their 
usual  habit  of  pomp  nor  in  their  more  effectual  garb  of 
war,  still,  when  narrowly  examined,  they  might  be  seen 
to  possess  their  usual  offensive  weapons.  These  men, 
entering  in  separate  and  straggling  parties,  might  be 
observed  to  join  the  slaves  of  the  interior  of  the  palace 
in  opposing  the  intrusion  of  the  Immortals  upon  the 
scat  of  the  Emperor  and  the  benches  around.  Two  or 
three  Immortals,  who  had  actually  made  good  their 
frolic  and  climbed  over  the  division,  were  flung  back 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

again,  very  unceremoniously,  by  the  barbaric  strength 
and  sinewy  arms  of  the  Varangians. 

The  people  around  and  in  the  adjacent  galleries,  most 
of  whom  had  the  air  of  citizens  in  their  holyday  dresses, 
commented  a  good  deal  on  these  proceedings,  and  were 
inclined  strongly  to  make  part  with  the  Immortals.  '  It 
was  a  shame  to  the  Emperor,'  they  said,  'to  encourage 
these  British  barbarians  to  interpose  themselves  by 
violence  between  his  person  and  the  Immortal  cohorts 
of  the  city,  who  were  in  some  sort  his  own  children.' 

Stephanos,  the  gymnastic,  whose  bulky  strength  and 
stature  rendered  him  conspicuous  amid  this  party,  said, 
without  hesitation, '  If  there  are  two  people  here  who  will 
join  in  saying  that  the  Immortals  are  unjustly  deprived 
of  their  right  of  guarding  the  Emperor's  person,  here  is 
the  hand  that  shall  place  them  beside  the  imperial  chair.' 

'Not  so,'  quoth  a  centurion  of  the  Immortals,  whom 
we  have  already  introduced  to  our  readers  by  the  name 
of  Harpax  —  'not  so,  Stephanos;  that  happy  time  may 
arrive,  but  it  is  not  yet  come,  my  gem  of  the  circus. 
Thou  knowest  that  on  this  occasion  it  is  one  of  these 
counts,  or  Western  franks,  who  undertakes  the  combat ; 
and  the  Varangians,  who  call  these  people  their  enemies, 
have  some  reason  to  claim  a  precedency  in  guarding  the 
lists,  which  it  might  not  at  this  moment  be  conven- 
ient to  dispute  with  them.  Why,  man,  if  thou  wert  half 
so  witty  as  thou  art  long,  thou  wouldst  be  sensible  that 
it  were  bad  woodmanship  to  raise  the  hollo  upon  the 
game  ere  it  had  been  driven  within  compass  of  the  nets.' 

While  the  athlete  rolled  his  huge  grey  eyes  as  if  to 
conjure  out  the  sense  of  this  intimation,  his  httle  friend 
Lysimachus,  the  artist,  putting  himself  to  pain  to  stand 

io6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

upon  his  tiptoe  and  look  intelligent,  said,  approaching 
as  near  as  he  could  to  Harpax's  ear,  *  Thou  mayst  trust 
me,  gallant  centurion,  that  this  man  of  mould  and  muscle 
shall  neither  start  like  a  babbling  hound  on  a  false  scent 
nor  become  mute  and  inert  when  the  general  signal  is 
given.  But  tell  me,'  said  he,  speaking  very  low,  and  for 
that  purpose  mounting  a  bench,  which  brought  him  on  a 
level  with  the  centurion's  ear,  'would  it  not  have  been 
better  that  a  strong  guard  of  the  valiant  Immortals  had 
been  placed  in  this  wooden  citadel,  to  ensure  the  object 
of  the  day? ' 

'Without  question,'  said  the  centurion,  'it  was  so 
meant;  but  these  strolling  Varangians  have  altered  their 
station  of  their  own  authority.' 

'Were  it  not  well,'  said  Lysimachus,  'that  you  who 
are  greatly  more  numerous  than  the  barbarians,  should 
begin  a  fray  before  more  of  these  strangers  arrive? ' 

'Content  ye,  friend,'  said  the  centurion,  coldly,  'we 
know  our  time.  An  attack  commenced  too  early  would 
be  worse  than  thrown  away,  nor  would  an  opportunity 
occur  of  executing  our  project  in  the  fitting  time,  if  an 
alarm  were  prematurely  given  at  this  moment.' 

So  saying,  he  shufHed  off  among  his  fellow-soldiers,  so 
as  to  avoid  suspicious  intercourse  with  such  persons  as 
were  only  concerned  with  the  civic  portion  of  the  con- 
spirators. 

As  the  morning  advanced,  and  the  sun  took  a  higher 
station  in  the  horizon,  the  various  persons  whom  curi- 
osity, or  some  more  decided  motive,  brought  to  see  the 
proposed  combat  were  seen  streaming  from  different 
parts  of  the  town,  and  rushing  to  occupy  such  accommo- 
dation as  the  circuit  round  the  lists  afforded  them.   In 

107 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

their  road  to  the  place  where  preparation  for  combat 
was  made,  they  had  to  ascend  a  sort  of  cape,  which,  in 
the  form  of  a  small  hill,  projected  into  the  Hellespont, 
and  the  butt  of  which,  connecting  it  with  the  shore, 
afforded  a  considerable  ascent,  and,  of  course,  a  more 
commanding  view  of  the  strait  between  Europe  and 
Asia  than  either  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  city  or  the 
still  lower  ground  upon  which  the  lists  were  erected.  In 
passing  this  height,  the  earlier  visitants  of  the  lists  made 
little  or  no  halt;  but  after  a  time,  when  it  became  ob- 
vious that  those  who  had  hurried  forward  to  the  place 
of  combat  were  lingering  there  without  any  object  or 
occupation,  they  that  followed  them  in  the  same  route, 
with  natural  curiosity,  paid  a  tribute  to  the  landscape, 
bestowing  some  attention  on  its  beauty,  and  paused  to 
see  what  auguries  could  be  collected  from  the  water 
which  were  likely  to  have  any  concern  in  indicating  the 
fate  of  the  events  that  were  to  take  place.  Some  strag- 
gling seamen  were  the  first  who  remarked  that  a  squad- 
ron of  the  Greek  small  craft  (being  that  of  Tancred) 
were  in  the  act  of  making  their  way  from  Asia,  and 
threatening  a  descent  upon  Constantinople. 

'It  is  strange,'  said  a  person,  by  rank  the  captain  of  a 
galley,  'that  these  small  vessels,  which  were  ordered  to 
return  to  Constantinople  as  soon  as  they  disembarked 
the  Latins,  should  have  remained  so  long  at  Scutari, 
and  should  not  be  rowing  back  to  the  imperial  city  until 
this  time,  on  the  second  day  after  their  departure  from 
thence.' 

'I  pray  to  Heaven,'  said  another  of  the  same  profes- 
sion, '  that  these  seamen  may  come  alone.  It  seems  to  me 
as  if  their  ensign-staffs,  bowsprits,  and  topmasts  were 

ic8 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

decorated  with  the  same  ensigns,  or  nearly  the  same, 
with  those  which  the  Latins  displayed  upon  them  when, 
by  the  Emperor's  order,  they  were  transported  towards 
Palestine;  so  methinks  the  voyage  back  again  resem- 
bles that  of  a  fleet  of  merchant  vessels  who  have  been 
prevented  from  discharging  their  cargo  at  the  place  of 
their  destination.' 

'There  is  little  good,'  said  one  of  the  politicians  whom 
we  formerly  noticed,  *  in  dealing  with  such  commodities, 
whether  they  are  imported  or  exported.  Yon  ample 
banner  which  streams  over  the  foremost  galley  intimates 
the  presence  of  a  chieftain  of  no  small  rank  among  the 
counts,  whether  it  be  for  valour  or  for  nobility.' 

The  seafaring  leader  added,  with  the  voice  of  one  who 
hints  alarming  tidings,  *  They  seem  to  have  got  to  a  point 
in  the  straits  as  high  as  will  enable  them  to  run  down 
with  the  tide,  and  clear  the  cape  which  we  stand  on, 
although  with  what  purpose  they  aim  to  land  so  close 
beneath  the  walls  of  the  city,  he  is  a  wiser  man  than  I 
who  pretends  to  determine.' 

'Assuredly,'  returned  his  comrade,  'the  intention  is 
not  a  kind  one.  The  wealth  of  the  city  has  temptations 
to  a  poor  people,  who  only  value  the  iron  which  they 
possess  as  affording  them  the  means  of  procuring  the 
gold  which  they  covet.' 

'Ay,  brother,'  answered  Demetrius  the  politician,  'but 
see  you  not,  lying  at  anchor  within  this  bay  which  is 
formed  by  the  cape,  and  at  the  very  point  where  these 
heretics  are  likely  to  be  carried  by  the  tide,  six  strong 
vessels,  having  the  power  of  sending  forth,  not  merely 
showers  of  darts  and  arrows,  but  of  Grecian  fire,  as  it  is 
called,  from  their  hollow  decks?  If  these  Frank  gentry 

109 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

continue  directing  their  course  upon  the  imperial  city, 
being,  as  they  are, 

Propago 

Contemptrix  Superilm  sane,  saevaeque  avidissima  caedis, 

Et  violenta,^ 

we  shall  speedily  see  a  combat  better  worth  witnessing 
than  that  announced  by  the  great  trumpet  of  the  Varan- 
gians. If  you  love  me,  let  us  sit  down  here  for  a  moment, 
and  see  how  this  matter  is  to  end.' 

*An  excellent  motion,  my  ingenious  friend,'  said  Las- 
caris,  which  was  the  name  of  the  other  citizen;  'but, 
bethink  you,  shall  we  not  be  in  danger  from  the  missiles 
with  which  the  audacious  Latins  will  not  fail  to  return 
the  Greek  fire,  if,  according  to  your  conjecture,  it  shall 
be  poured  upon  them  by  the  imperial  squadron? ' 

'That  is  not  ill  argued,  my  friend,'  said  Demetrius; 
*  but  know  that  you  have  to  do  with  a  man  who  has  been 
in  £uch  extremities  before  now;  and  if  such  a  discharge 
should  open  from  the  sea,  I  would  propose  to  you  to  step 
back  some  fifty  yards  inland,  and  thus  to  interpose  the 
very  crest  of  the  cape  between  us  and  the  discharge  of 
missiles;  a  mere  child  might  thus  learn  to  face  them 
without  any  alarm.' 

'You  are  a  wise  man,  neighbour,'  said  Lascaris,  'and 
possess  such  a  mixture  of  valour  and  knowledge  as  be- 
comes a  man  whom  a  friend  might  be  supposed  safely  to 
risk  his  life  with.  There  be  those,  for  instance,  who  can- 
not show  you  the  slightest  glimpse  of  what  is  going  on 
without  bringing  you  within  peril  of  your  life;  whereas 
you,  my  worthy  friend  Demetrius,  between  your  accu- 
rate knowledge  of  military  affairs  and  your  regard  for 

1  Ovid,  Me/, 
no 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

your  friend,  are  sure  to  show  him  all  that  is  to  be  seen 
without  the  least  risk  to  a  person  who  is  naturally  unwill- 
ing to  think  of  exposing  himself  to  injury.  But,  Holy 
Virgin!  what  is  the  meaning  of  that  red  flag  which  the 
Greek  admiral  has  this  instant  hoisted? ' 

'Why,  you  see,  neighbour,'  answered  Demetrius, 
'yonder  Western  heretic  continues  to  advance  without 
minding  the  various  signs  which  our  admiral  has  made 
to  him  to  desist,  and  now  he  hoists  the  bloody  colours, 
as  if  a  man  should  clench  his  fist  and  say,  "If  you  per- 
severe in  your  uncivil  intention,  I  will  do  so  and  so.'" 

'By  St.  Sophia,'  said  Lascaris,  'and  that  is  giving  him 
fair  warning.  But  what  is  it  the  imperial  admiral  is 
about  to  do? ' 

'Run  —  run,  friend  Lascaris,'  said  Demetrius,  'or 
you  will  see  more  of  that  than  perchance  you  have  any 
curiosity  for.' 

Accordingly,  to  add  the  strength  of  example  to  pre- 
cept, Demetrius  himself  girt  up  his  loins,  and  retreated 
with  the  most  edifying  speed  to  the  opposite  side  of  the 
ridge,  accompanied  by  the  greater  part  of  the  crowd, 
who  had  tarried  there  to  witness  the  contest  which  the 
newsmonger  promised,  and  were  determined  to  take  his 
word  for  their  own  safety.  The  sound  and  sight  which 
had  alarmed  Demetrius  was  the  discharge  of  a  large 
portion  of  Greek  fire,  which  perhaps  may  be  best  com- 
pared to  one  of  those  immense  Congreve  rockets  of  the 
present  day,  which  takes  on  its  shoulders  a  small  grapnel 
or  anchor,  and  proceeds  groaning  through  the  air,  like  a 
fiend  overburdened  by  the  mandate  of  some  inexorable 
magician,  and  of  which  the  operation  was  so  terrifying, 
that  the  crews  of  the  vessels  attacked  by  this  strange 

III 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

weapon  frequently  forsook  every  means  cf  defence  and 
run  themselves  ashore.  One  of  the  principal  ingredients 
of  this  dreadful  fire  was  supposed  to  be  naphtha,  or  the 
bitumen  which  is  collected  on  the  banks  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  which,  when  in  a  state  of  ignition,  could  only  be 
extinguished  by  a  very  singular  mixture,  and  which  it 
was  not  likely  to  come  in  contact  with.  It  produced  a 
thick  smoke  and  loud  explosion,  and  was  capable,  says 
Gibbon,  of  communicating  its  flames  with  equal  vehe- 
mence in  descent  or  lateral  progress.^  In  sieges,  it  was 
poured  from  the  ramparts,  or  launched,  like  our  bombs, 
in  red-hot  balls  of  stone  or  iron,  or  it  was  darted  in  flax 
twisted  round  arrows  and  in  javelins.  It  was  considered 
as  a  state  secret  of  the  greatest  importance;  and  for  well- 
nigh  four  centuries  it  was  unknown  to  the  Mohammed- 
ans. But  at  length  the  composition  was  discovered  by 
the  Saracens,  and  used  by  them  for  repelling  the  crusa- 
ders, and  overpowering  the  Greeks,  upon  whose  side  it 
had  at  one  time  been  the  most  formidable  implement  of 
defence.  Some  exaggeration  we  must  allow  for  a  barbar- 
ous period;  but  there  seems  no  doubt  that  the  general 
description  of  the  crusader  Joinville  should  be  admitted 
as  correct.  'It  came  flying  through  the  air,'  says  that 
good  knight,  'like  a  winged  dragon,  about  the  thickness 
of  a  hogshead,  with  the  report  of  thunder  and  the  speed 
of  Hghtning,  and  the  darkness  of  the  night  was  dispelled 
by  this  horrible  illumination.' 

Not  only  the  bold  Demetrius  and  his  pupil  Lascaris, 
but  all  the  crowd  whom  they  influenced,  fled  manfully 
when  the  commodore  of  the  Greeks  fired  the  first  dis- 
charge; and  as  the  other  vessels  in  the  squadron  followed 
*  For  a  full  account  of  the  Greek  fire,  see  Gibbon,  chapter  liii. 
112 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

his  example,  the  heavens  were  filled  with  the  unusual 
and  outrageous  noise,  while  the  smoke  was  so  thick  as  to 
darken  the  very  air.  As  the  fugitives  passed  the  crest  of 
the  hill,  they  saw  the  seaman  whom  we  formerly  men- 
tioned as  a  spectator  snugly  reclining  under  cover  of  a 
dry  ditch,  where  he  managed  so  as  to  secure  himself  as 
far  as  possible  from  any  accident.  He  could  not,  how- 
ever, omit  breaking  his  jest  on  the  politicians. 

'What,  ho!'  he  cried,  'my  good  friends,'  without 
raising  himself  above  the  counterscarp  of  his  ditch, 
'will  you  not  remain  upon  your  station  long  enough  to 
finish  that  hopeful  lecture  upon  battle  by  sea  and  land 
which  you  had  so  happy  an  opportunity  of  commencing? 
Believe  me,  the  noise  is  more  alarming  than  hurtful ;  the 
fire  is  all  pointed  in  a  direction  opposite  to  yours,  and  if 
one  of  those  dragons  which  you  see  does  happen  to  fly 
landward  instead  of  seaward,  it  is  but  the  mistake  of 
some  cabin-boy,  who  has  used  his  linstock  with  more 
willingness  than  ability.' 

Demetrius  and  Lascaris  Just  heard  enough  of  the  naval 
hero's  harangue  to  acquaint  them  with  the  new  danger 
with  which  they  might  be  assailed  by  the  possible  mis- 
direction of  the  weapons,  and,  rushing  down  towards 
the  lists  at  the  head  of  a  crowd  half  desperate  with  fear, 
they  hastily  propagated  the  appalling  news  that  the 
Latins  were  coming  back  from  Asia  with  the  purpose  of 
landing  in  arms,  pillaging,  and  burning  the  city. 

The  uproar,  in  the  meantime,  of  this  unexpected  oc- 
currence, was  such  as  altogether  to  vindicate,  in  public 
opinion,  the  reported  cause,  however  exaggerated.  The 
thunder  of  the  Greek  fire  came  successively,  one  hard 
upon  the  other,  and  each  in  its  turn  spread  a  blot  of 

44  113 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

black  smoke  upon  the  face  of  the  landscape,  which,  thick- 
ened by  so  many  successive  clouds,  seemed  at  last,  like 
that  raised  by  a  sustained  fire  of  modern  artillery,  to 
overshadow  the  whole  horizon. 

The  small  squadron  of  Tancred  were  completely  hid 
from  view  in  the  surging  volumes  of  darkness  which  the 
breath  of  the  weapons  of  the  enemy  had  spread  around 
him ;  and  it  seemed  by  a  red  light,  which  began  to  show 
itself  among  the  thickest  of  the  veil  of  darkness,  that  one 
of  the  flotilla  at  least  had  caught  fire.  Yet  the  Latins 
resisted,  with  an  obstinacy  worthy  of  their  own  courage 
and  the  fame  of  their  celebrated  leader.  Some  advantage 
they  had,  on  account  of  their  small  size  and  their  lowness 
in  the  water,  as  well  as  the  clouded  state  of  the  atmo- 
sphere, which  rendered  them  diflicult  marks  for  the  fire 
of  the  Greeks. 

To  increase  these  advantages,  Tancred,  as  well  by 
boats  as  by  the  kind  of  rude  signals  made  use  of  at  the 
period,  dispersed  orders  to  his  fleet  that  each  bark,  dis- 
regarding the  fate  of  the  others,  should  press  forward 
individually,  and  that  the  men  from  each  should  be  put 
on  shore  wheresoever  and  howsoever  they  could  effect 
that  manoeuvre.  Tancred  himself  set  a  noble  example: 
he  was  on  board  a  stout  vessel,  fenced  in  some  degree 
against  the  effect  of  the  Greek  fire  by  being  in  a  great 
measure  covered  with  raw  hides,  which  hides  had  also 
been  recently  steeped  in  water.  This  vessel  contained 
upwards  of  a  hundred  valiant  warriors,  several  of  them 
of  knightly  order,  who  had  all  night  toiled  at  the  humble 
labours  of  the  oar,  and  now  in  the  morning  applied  their 
chivalrous  hands  to  the  arblast  and  to  the  bow,  which 
were  in  general  accounted  the  weapons  of  persons  of  a 

114 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

lower  rank.  Thus  armed  and  thus  manned,  Prince 
Tancred  bestowed  upon  his  bark  the  full  velocity  which 
wind,  and  tide,  and  oar  could  enable  her  to  obtain,  and 
placing  her  in  the  situation  to  profit  by  them  as  much  as 
his  maritime  skill  could  direct,  he  drove  with  the  speed 
of  lightning  among  the  vessels  of  Lemnos,  plying  on 
either  side  bows,  cross-bows,  javelins,  and  military  mis- 
siles of  every  kind,  with  the  greater  advantage  that  the 
Greeks,  trusting  to  their  artificial  fire,  had  omitted  arm- 
ing themselves  with  other  weapons;  so  that  when  the 
vaUant  crusader  bore  down  on  them  with  so  much  fury, 
repaying  the  terrors  of  their  fire  with  a  storm  of  bolts 
and  arrows  no  less  formidable,  they  began  to  feel  that 
their  own  advantage  was  much  less  than  they  had  sup- 
posed, and  that,  like  most  other  dangers,  the  maritime 
fire  of  the  Greeks,  when  undauntedly  confronted,  lost  at 
least  one-half  of  its  terrors.  The  Grecian  sailors,  too, 
when  they  observed  the  vessels  approach  so  near,  filled 
with  the  steel-clad  Latins,  began  to  shrink  from  a  contest 
to  be  maintained  hand-to-hand  with  so  terrible  an 
enemy. 

By  degrees,  smoke  began  to  issue  from  the  sides  of  the 
great  Grecian  argosy,  and  the  voice  of  Tancred  an- 
nounced to  his  soldiers  that  the  Grecian  admiral's  vessel 
had  taken  fire,  owing  to  negligence  in  the  management 
of  the  means  of  destruction  she  possessed,  and  that  all 
they  had  now  to  do  was  to  maintain  such  a  distance  as  to 
avoid  sharing  her  fate.  Sparkles  and  flashes  of  flame 
were  next  seen  leaping  from  place  to  place  on  board  of 
the  great  hulk,  as  if  the  element  had  had  the  sense  and 
purpose  of  spreading  wider  the  consternation,  and  disa- 
bling the  few  who  still  paid  attention  to  the  commands 

"5 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  their  admiral  and  endeavoured  to  extinguish  the  fire. 
The  consciousness  of  the  combustible  nature  of  the 
freight  began  to  add  despair  to  terror;  from  the  bolt- 
sprit,  the  rigging,  the  yards,  the  sides,  and  every  part  of 
the  vessel,  the  unfortunate  crew  were  seen  dropping 
themselves,  to  exchange  for  the  most  part  a  watery 
death  for  one  by  the  more  dreadful  agency  of  fire.  The 
crew  of  Tancred's  bark,  ceasing,  by  that  generous 
prince's  commands,  to  offer  any  additional  annoyance  to 
an  enemy  who  was  at  once  threatened  by  the  perils  of  the 
ocean  and  of  conflagration,  ran  their  vessel  ashore  in  a 
smooth  part  of  the  bay,  and,  jumping  into  the  shallow 
sea,  made  the  land  without  difficulty,  many  of  their 
steeds  being,  by  the  exertions  of  the  owners  and  the  do- 
cility of  the  animals,  brought  ashore  at  the  same  time 
with  their  masters.  Their  commander  lost  no  time  in 
forming  their  serried  ranks  into  a  phalanx  of  lancers, 
few  indeed  at  first,  but  perpetually  increasing  as  ship 
after  ship  of  the  little  flotilla  ran  ashore,  or,  having 
more  deliberately  moored  their  barks,  landed  their  men 
and  joined  their  companions. 

The  cloud  which  had  been  raised  by  the  conflict  was 
now  driven  to  leeward  before  the  wind,  and  the  strait 
exhibited  only  the  relics  of  the  combat.  Here  tossed 
upon  the  billows  the  scattered  and  broken  remains  of 
one  or  two  of  the  Latin  vessels  which  had  been  burnt  at 
the  commencement  of  the  combat,  though  their  crews, 
by  the  exertions  of  their  comrades,  had  in  general  been 
saved.  Lower  down  were  seen  the  remaining  five  vessels 
of  the  Lemnos  squadron,  holding  a  disorderly  and  diffi- 
cult retreat,  with  the  purpose  of  gaining  the  harbour  of 
Constantinople.  In  the  place  so  late  the  scene  of  com- 

ii6 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

bat  lay  moored  the  hulk  of  the  Grecian  admiral,  burnt 
to  the  water's  edge,  and  still  sending  forth  a  black  smoke 
from  its  scathed  beams  and  planks.  The  flotilla  of  Tan- 
cred,  busied  in  discharging  its  troops,  lay  irregularly 
scattered  along  the  bay,  the  men  making  ashore  as  they 
could,  and  taking  their  course  to  join  the  standard  of 
their  leader.  Various  black  substances  floated  on  the 
surface  of  the  water,  nearer  or  more  distant  to  the  shore; 
some  proved  to  be  the  wreck  of  the  vessels  which  had 
been  destroyed,  and  others,  more  ominous  still,  the  life- 
less bodies  of  mariners  who  had  fallen  in  the  conflict. 

The  standard  had  been  borne  ashore  by  the  Prince's 
favourite  page,  Ernest  of  Apulia,  so  soon  as  the  keel  of 
Tancred's  galley  had  grazed  upon  the  sand.  It  was  then 
pitched  on  the  top  of  that  elevated  cape  between  Con- 
stantinople and  the  Hsts  where  Lascaris,  Demetrius,  and 
other  gossips  had  held  their  station  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  engagement,  but  from  which  all  had  fled, 
between  the  mingled  dread  of  the  Greek  fire  and  the 
missiles  of  the  Latin  crusaders. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

Sheathed  in  complete  armour,  and  supporting  with  his 
right  hand  the  standard  of  his  fathers,  Tancred  remained 
with  his  handful  of  warriors  like  so  many  statues  of  steel, 
expecting  some  sort  of  attack  from  the  Grecian  party 
which  had  occupied  the  lists,  or  from  the  numbers  whom 
the  city  gates  began  now  to  pour  forth  —  soldiers  some 
of  them,  and  others  citizens,  many  of  whom  were  arrayed 
as  if  for  conflict.  These  persons,  alarmed  by  the  various 
accounts  which  were  given  of  the  combatants  and  the 
progress  of  the  fight,  rushed  towards  the  standard  of 
Prince  Tancred,  with  the  intention  of  beating  it  to  the 
earth,  and  dispersing  the  guards  who  owed  it  homage 
and  defence.  But  if  the  reader  shall  have  happened  to 
have  ridden  at  any  time  through  a  pastoral  country,  with 
a  dog  of  a  noble  race  following  him,  he  must  have  re- 
marked, in  the  deference  ultimately  paid  to  the  high- 
bred animal  by  the  shepherd's  cur  as  he  crosses  the  lonely 
glen,  of  which  the  latter  conceives  himself  the  lord  and 
guardian,  something  very  similar  to  the  demeanour  of 
the  incensed  Greeks  when  they  approached  near  to  the 
little  band  of  Franks.  At  the  first  symptom  of  the  intru- 
sion of  a  stranger,  the  dog  of  the  shepherd  starts  from 
his  slumbers,  and  rushes  towards  the  noble  intruder  with 
a  clamorous  declaration  of  war;  but  when  the  diminu- 
tion of  distance  between  them  shows  to  the  aggressor 
the  size  and  strength  of  his  opponent,  he  becomes  like  a 
cruiser  who,  in  a  chase,  has,  to  his  surprise  and  alarm, 

ii8 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

found  two  tier  of  guns  opposed  to  him  instead  of  one. 
He  halts,  suspends  his  clamorous  yelping,  and,  in  fine, 
ingloriously  retreats  to  his  master,  with  all  the  dishon- 
ourable marks  of  positively  declining  the  combat.  It  was 
in  this  manner  that  the  troops  of  the  noisy  Greeks,  with 
much  hallooing  and  many  a  boastful  shout,  hastened 
both  from  the  town  and  from  the  Hsts,  with  the  apparent 
intention  of  sweeping  from  the  field  the  few  companions 
of  Tancred.  As  they  advanced,  however,  within  the 
power  of  remarking  the  calm  and  regular  order  of  those 
men  who  had  landed  and  arranged  themselves  under 
this  noble  chieftain's  banner,  their  minds  were  altogether 
changed  as  to  the  resolution  of  instant  combat;  their 
advance  became  an  uncertain  and  staggering  gait ;  their 
heads  were  more  frequently  turned  back  to  the  point 
from  which  they  came  than  towards  the  enemy;  and 
their  desire  to  provoke  an  instant  scuffle  vanished  totally 
when  there  did  not  appear  the  least  symptom  that  their 
opponents  cared  about  the  matter. 

It  added  to  the  extreme  confidence  with  which  the 
Latins  kept  their  ground,  that  they  were  receiving  fre- 
quent, though  small,  reinforcements  from  their  comrades, 
who  were  landing  by  detachments  all  along  the  beach; 
and  that,  in  the  course  of  a  short  hour,  their  amount  had 
been  raised,  on  horseback  and  foot,  to  a  number,  allow- 
ing for  a  few  casualties,  not  much  less  than  that  which 
set  sail  from  Scutari, 

Another  reason  why  the  Latins  remained  unassailed 
was  certainly  the  indisposition  of  the  two  principal  armed 
parties  on  shore  to  enter  into  a  quarrel  with  them. 
The  guards  of  every  kind  who  were  faithful  to  the  Em- 
peror, and  more  especially  the  Varangians,  had  their 

119 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

orders  to  remain  firm  at  their  posts,  some  in  the  lists  and 
others  at  various  places  of  rendezvous  in  Constantinople, 
where  their  presence  was  necessary  to  prevent  the  effects 
of  the  sudden  insurrection  which  Alexius  knew  to  be 
meditated  against  him.  These,  therefore,  made  no  hostile 
demonstration  towards  the  band  of  Latins,  nor  was  it 
the  purpose  of  the  Emperor  they  should  do  so. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  greater  part  of  the  Immortal 
Guards,  and  those  citizens  who  were  prepared  to  play  a 
part  in  the  conspiracy,  had  been  impressed  by  the  agents 
of  the  deceased  Agelastes  with  the  opinion  that  this  band 
of  Latins,  commanded  by  Tancred,  the  relative  of  Bohe- 
mond,  had  been  despatched  by  the  latter  to  their  assist- 
ance. These  men,  therefore,  stood  still,  and  made  no 
attempt  to  guide  or  direct  the  popular  efforts  of  such  as 
inclined  to  attack  these  unexpected  visitors;  in  which 
purpose,  therefore,  no  very  great  party  were  united, 
while  the  majority  were  willing  enough  to  find  an  apol- 
ogy for  remaining  quiet. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Emperor,  from  his  Palace  of 
Blacquernal,  observed  what  passed  upon  the  straits,  and 
beheld  his  navy  from  Lemnos  totally  foiled  in  their 
attempt,  by  means  of  the  Greek  fire,  to  check  the 
intended  passage  of  Tancred  and  his  men.  He  had  no 
sooner  seen  the  leading  ship  of  this  squadron  begin  to 
beacon  the  darkness  with  its  own  fire  than  the  Emperor 
formed  a  secret  resolution  to  disown  the  unfortunate 
admiral,  and  make  peace  with  the  Latins,  if  that  should 
be  absolutely  necessary,  by  sending  them  his  head.  He 
had  hardly,  therefore,  seen  the  flames  burst  forth,  and 
the  rest  of  the  vessels  retreat  from  their  moorings,  than 
in  his  own  mind  the  doom  of  the  unfortunate  Phraortes, 

1 20 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

for  such  was  the  name  of  the  admiral,  was  signed  and 
sealed. 

Achilles  Tatius,  at  the  same  instant,  determining  to 
keep  a  close  eye  upon  the  Emperor  at  this  important 
crisis,  came  precipitately  into  the  palace  with  an  appear- 
ance of  great  alarm. 

*  My  lord  —  my  imperial  lord,  I  am  unhappy  to  be  the 
messenger  of  such  unlucky  news;  but  the  Latins  have 
in  great  numbers  succeeded  in  crossing  the  strait  from 
Scutari.  The  Lemnos  squadron  endeavoured  to  stop 
them,  as  was  last  night  determined  upon  in  the  imperial 
council  of  war.  By  a  heavy  discharge  of  the  Greek  fire, 
one  or  two  of  the  crusaders'  vessels  were  consumed,  but 
by  far  the  greater  number  of  them  pushed  on  their 
course,  burnt  the  leading  ship  of  the  unfortunate 
Phraortes,  and  it  is  strongly  reported  he  has  himself 
perished,  with  almost  all  his  men.  The  rest  have  cut 
their  cables  and  abandoned  the  defence  of  the  passage 
of  the  Hellespont.' 

'And  you,  Achilles  Tatius,'  said  the  Emperor,  'with 
what  purpose  is  it  that  you  now  bring  me  this  melan- 
choly news,  at  a  period  so  late  when  I  cannot  amend  the 
consequences?' 

'Under  favour,  most  gracious  Emperor,'  replied  the 
conspirator,  not  without  colouring  and  stammering, 
'such  was  not  my  intention:  I  had  hoped  to  submit  a 
plan  by  which  I  might  easily  have  prepared  the  way  for 
correcting  this  little  error.' 

'Well,  your  plan,  sir?'  said  the  Emperor,  drily. 

'With  your  Sacred  Majesty's  leave,'  said  the  Aco- 
lyte, 'I  would  myself  have  undertaken  instantly  to  lead 
against  this  Tancred  and  his  Italians  the  battle-axes 

121 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  the  faithful  Varangian  Guard,  who  will  make  no  more 
account  of  the  small  number  of  Franks  who  have  come 
ashore  than  the  farmer  holds  of  the  hordes  of  rats  and 
mice,  and  such-like  mischievous  vermin,  who  have  har- 
boured in  his  granaries.' 

'And  what  mean  you,'  said  the  Emperor,  'that  I  am 
to  do,  while  my  Anglo-Saxons  fight  for  my  sake? ' 

'  Your  majesty,'  replied  Achilles,  not  exactly  satisfied 
with  the  dry  and  caustic  manner  in  which  the  Emperor 
addressed  him,  'may  put  yourself  at  the  head  of  the 
Immortal  cohorts  of  Constantinople;  and  I  am  your  se- 
curity, that  you  may  either  perfect  the  victory  over  the 
Latins,  or  at  least  redeem  the  most  distant  chance  of  a 
defeat,  by  advancing  at  the  head  of  this  choice  body  of 
domestic  troops,  should  the  day  appear  doubtful.' 

*  You  yourself,  Achilles  Tatius,'  returned  the  Emperor, 
'have  repeatedly  assured  us  that  these  Immortals  retain 
a  perverse  attachment  to  our  rebel  Ursel.  How  is  it, 
then,  you  would  have  us  entrust  our  defence  to  these 
bands,  when  we  have  engaged  our  valiant  Varangians 
in  the  proposed  conflict  with  the  flower  of  the  Western 
army?  Did  you  think  of  this  risk,  sir  Follower? ' 

Achilles  Tatius,  much  alarmed  at  an  intimation  indic- 
ative of  his  purpose  being  known,  answered,  '  that  in  his 
haste  he  had  been  more  anxious  to  recommend  the  plan 
which  should  expose  his  own  person  to  the  greater  danger 
than  that  perhaps  which  was  most  attended  with  per- 
sonal safety  to  his  imperial  master.' 

*I  thank  you  for  so  doing,'  said  the  Emperor;  'you 
have  anticipated  my  wishes,  though  it  is  not  in  my 
power  at  present  to  follow  the  advice  you  have  given 
me.    I  would  have  been  well  contented,  undoubtedly, 

122 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

had  these  Latins  measured  their  way  over  the  strait 
again,  as  suggested  by  last  night's  council;  but  since 
they  have  arrived,  and  stand  embattled  on  our  shores, 
it  is  better  that  we  pay  them  with  money  and  with  spoil 
than  with  the  lives  of  our  gallant  subjects.  We  cannot, 
after  all,  believe  that  they  come  with  any  serious  inten- 
tion of  doing  us  injury:  it  is  but  the  insane  desire  of  wit- 
nessing feats  of  battle  and  single  combat,  which  is  to 
them  the  breath  of  their  nostrils,  that  can  have  impelled 
them  to  this  partial  counter-march.  I  impose  upon 
you,  Achilles  Tatius,  combining  the  Protospathaire  in 
the  same  commission  with  you,  the  duty  of  riding  up  to 
yonder  standard,  and  learning  of  their  chief,  called  the 
Prince  Tancred,  if  he  is  there  in  person,  the  purpose  of 
his  return,  and  the  cause  of  his  entering  into  debate  with 
Phraortes  and  the  Lemnos  squadron.  If  they  send  us 
any  reasonable  excuse,  we  shall  not  be  averse  to  receive 
it  at  their  hands;  for  we  have  not  made  so  many  sacri- 
fices for  the  preservation  of  peace,  to  break  forth  into 
war,  if,  after  all,  so  great  an  evil  can  be  avoided.  Thou 
wilt  receive,  therefore,  with  a  candid  and  complacent 
mind,  such  apologies  as  they  may  incline  to  bring  for- 
ward ;  and  be  assured  that  the  sight  of  this  puppet-show 
of  a  single  combat  will  be  enough  of  itself  to  banish 
every  other  consideration  from  the  reflection  of  these 
giddy  crusaders.' 

A  knock  was  at  this  moment  heard  at  the  door  of  the 
Emperor's  apartment;  and  upon  the  word  being  given 
to  enter,  the  Protospathaire  made  his  appearance.  Ho 
was  arrayed  in  a  splendid  suit  of  ancient  Roman-fash- 
ioned armour.  The  want  of  a  visor  left  his  countenance 
entirely  visible,  which,  pale  and  anxious  as  it  was,  did 

123 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

not  well  become  the  martial  crest  and  dancing  plume 
with  which  it  was  decorated.  He  received  the  commis- 
sion already  mentioned  with  the  less  alacrity  because  the 
Acolyte  was  added  to  him  as  his  colleague;  for,  as  the 
reader  may  have  observed,  these  two  officers  were  of 
separate  factions  in  the  army,  and  on  indifferent  terms 
with  each  other.  Neither  did  the  Acolyte  consider  his 
being  united  in  commission  with  the  Protospathaire 
as  a  mark  either  of  the  Emperor's  confidence  or  of  his 
own  safety.  He  was,  however,  in  the  meantime  in  the 
Blacquernal,  where  the  slaves  of  the  interior  made  not 
the  least  hesitation,  when  ordered,  to  execute  any  officer 
of  the  court.  The  two  generals  had,  therefore,  no  other 
alternative  than  that  which  is  allowed  two  greyhounds 
who  are  reluctantly  coupled  together.  The  hope  of 
Achilles  Tatius  was,  that  he  might  get  safely  through  his 
mission  to  Tancred,  after  which  he  thought  the  success- 
ful explosion  of  the  conspiracy  might  take  place  and 
have  its  course,  either  as  a  matter  desired  and  counte- 
nanced by  those  Latins,  or  passed  over  as  a  thing  in 
which  they  took  no  interest  on  either  side. 

By  the  parting  order  of  the  Emperor,  they  were  to 
mount  on  horseback  at  the  sounding  of  the  great  Varan- 
gian trumpet,  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  those  Anglo- 
Saxon  guards  in  the  courtyard  of  their  barrack,  and 
await  the  Emperor's  further  orders. 

There  was  something  in  this  arrangement  which 
pressed  hard  on  the  conscience  of  Achilles  Tatius,  yet 
he  was  at  a  loss  to  justify  his  apprehensions  to  himself, 
unless  from  a  conscious  feeling  of  his  own  guilt.  He  felt, 
however,  that  in  being  detained,  under  pretence  of  an 
honourable  mission,  at  the  head  of  the  Varangians,  he 

124 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

was  deprived  of  the  liberty  of  disposing  of  himself,  by 
which  he  had  hoped  to  communicate  with  the  Caesar  and 
Hereward,  whom  he  reckoned  upon  as  his  active  accom- 
plices, not  knowing  that  the  first  was  at  this  moment  a 
prisoner  in  the  Blacquernal,  where  Alexius  had  arrested 
him  in  the  apartments  of  the  Empress,  and  that  the 
second  was  the  most  important  support  of  Comnenus 
during  the  whole  of  that  eventful  day. 

When  the  gigantic  trvmipet  of  the  Varangian  Guards 
sent  forth  its  deep  signal  through  the  city,  the  Proto- 
spathaire  hurried  Achilles  along  with  him  to  the  rendez- 
vous of  the  Varangians,  and  on  the  way  said  to  him,  in 
an  easy  and  indifferent  tone,  *As  the  Emperor  is  in  the 
field  in  person,  you,  his  representative,  or  Follower,  will, 
of  course,  transmit  no  orders  to  the  body-guard,  except 
such  as  shall  receive  their  origin  from  himself,  so  that 
you  will  consider  your  authority  as  this  day  suspended.' 

*I  regret,'  said  Achilles,  'that  there  should  have 
seemed  any  cause  for  such  precautions;  I  had  hoped  my 
own  truth  and  fidelity  —  but  I  am  obsequious  to  his 
imperial  pleasure  in  all  things.' 

'Such  are  his  orders,'  said  the  other  officer,  'and  you 
know  under  what  penalty  obedience  is  enforced.' 

'If  I  did  not,'  said  Achilles,  'the  composition  of  this 
body  of  guards  would  remind  me,  since  it  comprehends 
not  only  great  part  of  those  Varangians  who  are  the 
immediate  defenders  of  the  Emperor's  throne,  but  those 
slaves  of  the  interior  who  are  the  executioners  of  his 
pleasure.' 

To  this  the  Protospathaire  returned  no  answer,  while 
the  more  closely  the  Acolyte  looked  upon  the  guard  which 
attended,  to  the  unusual  number  of  nearly  three  thou- 

125 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

sand  men,  the  more  had  he  reason  to  believe  that  he 
might  esteem  himself  fortunate  if,  by  the  intervention  of 
either  the  Ca3sar,  Agelastes,  or  Hcreward,  he  could  pass 
to  the  conspirators  a  signal  to  suspend  the  intended 
explosion,  which  seemed  to  be  provided  against  by  the 
Emperor  with  unusual  caution.  He  would  have  given 
the  full  dream  of  empire,  with  which  he  had  been  for  a 
short  time  lulled  asleep,  to  have  seen  but  a  glimpse  of  the 
azure  plume  of  Nicephorus,  the  white  mantle  of  the  phi- 
losopher, or  even  a  glimmer  of  Hereward's  battle-axe. 
No  such  objects  could  be  seen  an3rwhere,  and  not  a  little 
was  the  faithless  Follower  displeased  to  see  that,  which- 
ever way  he  turned  his  eyes,  those  of  the  Protospathaire, 
but  especially  of  the  trusty  domestic  ofl&cers  of  the  em- 
pire, seemed  to  follow  and  watch  their  occupation. 

Amidst  the  numerous  soldiers  whom  he  saw  on  all 
sides,  his  eye  did  not  recognise  a  single  man  with  whom 
he  could  exchange  a  friendly  or  confidential  glance,  and 
he  stood  in  all  that  agony  of  terror  which  is  rendered  the 
more  discomfiting  because  the  traitor  is  conscious  that, 
beset  by  various  foes,  his  own  fears  are  the  most  Ukely 
of  all  to  betray  him.  Internally,  as  the  danger  seemed  to 
increase,  and  as  his  alarmed  imagination  attempted  to 
discern  new  reasons  for  it,  he  could  only  conclude  that 
either  one  of  the  three  principal  conspirators,  or  at  least 
some  of  the  inferiors,  had  turned  informers;  and  his 
doubt  was,  whether  he  should  not  screen  his  own  share 
of  what  had  been  premeditated  by  flinging  himself  at 
the  feet  of  the  Emperor,  and  making  a  full  confession. 
But  still  the  fear  of  being  premature  in  having  recourse 
to  such  a  base  means  of  saving  himself,  joined  to  the 
absence  of  the  Emperor,  united  to  keep  within  his  lips  a 

126 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

secret  which  concerned  not  only  all  his  future  fortunes, 
but  life  itself.  He  was  in  the  meantime,  therefore, 
plunged  as  it  were  in  a  sea  of  trouble  and  uncertainty, 
while  the  specks  of  land,  which  seemed  to  promise  him 
refuge,  were  distant,  dimly  seen,  and  extremely  difl&cult 
of  attainment. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

To-morrowl  O,  that's  sudden  1  Spare  him,  spare  himi 
He 's  not  prepared  for  death. 

Sbakespears. 

At  the  moment  when  Achilles  Tatius,  with  a  feeling  of 
much  insecurity,  awaited  the  unwinding  of  the  perilous 
skein  of  state  politics,  a  private  council  of  the  imperial 
family  was  held  in  the  hall  termed  the  temple  of  the 
Muses,  repeatedly  distinguished  as  the  apartment  in 
which  the  Princess  Anna  Comnena  was  wont  to  make 
her  evening  recitations  to  those  who  were  permitted  the 
honour  of  hearing  prelections  of  her  history.  The  council 
consisted  of  the  Empress  Irene,  the  Princess  herself,  and 
the  Emperor,  with  the  Patriarch  of  the  Greek  Church, 
as  a  sort  of  mediator  between  a  course  of  severity  and  a 
dangerous  degree  of  lenity. 

'Tell  not  me,  Irene,'  said  the  Emperor,  'of  the  fine 
things  attached  to  the  praise  of  mercy.  Here  have  I 
sacrificed  my  just  revenge  over  my  rival  Ursel,  and  what 
good  do  I  obtain  by  it?  Why,  the  old  obstinate  man, 
instead  of  being  tractable,  and  sensible  of  the  generosity 
which  has  spared  his  life  and  eyes,  can  be  with  difficulty 
brought  to  exert  himself  in  favour  of  the  prince  to  whom 
he  owes  them.  I  used  to  think  that  eyesight  and  the 
breath  of  life  were  things  which  one  would  preserve  at 
any  sacrifice;  but,  on  the  contrary,  I  now  believe  men 
value  them  like  mere  toys.  Talk  not  to  me,  therefore,  of 
the  gratitude  to  be  excited  by  saving  this  ungrateful 

128 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

cub;  and  believe  me,  girl,'  turning  to  Anna,  'that  not 
only  will  all  my  subjects,  should  I  follow  your  advice, 
laugh  at  me  for  sparing  a  man  so  predetermined  to  work 
my  ruin,  but  even  thou  thyself  wilt  be  the  first  to  up- 
braid me  with  the  foolish  kindness  thou  art  now  so 
anxious  to  extort  from  me.' 

'Your  imperial  pleasure,  then,'  said  the  Patriarch,  'is 
fixed  that  your  unfortunate  son-in-law  shall  suffer  death 
for  his  accession  to  this  conspiracy,  deluded  by  that 
heathen  villain  Agelastes  and  the  traitorous  Achilles 
Tatius?' 

'Such  is  my  purpose,'  said  the  Emperor;  'and  in  evi- 
dence that  I  mean  not  again  to  pass  over  a  sentence  of 
this  kind  with  a  seeming  execution  only,  as  in  the  case  of 
Ursel,  this  ungrateful  traitor  of  ours  shall  be  led  from 
the  top  of  the  staircase,  or  Ladder  of  Acheron,  as  it  is 
called,  through  the  large  chamber  named  the  Hall  of 
Judgment,  at  the  upper  end  of  which  are  arranged  the 
apparatus  for  execution,  by  which  I  swear  — ' 

'Swear  not  at  all!'  said  the  Patriarch.  'I  forbid  thee, 
in  the  name  of  that  Heaven  whose  voice  —  though  un- 
worthy —  speaks  in  my  person  to  quench  the  smoking 
flax,  or  destroy  the  slight  hope  which  there  may  remain 
that  you  may  finally  be  persuaded  to  alter  your  purpose 
respecting  your  misguided  son-in-law,  within  the  space 
allotted  to  him  to  sue  for  your  mercy.  Remember,  I 
pray  you,  the  remorse  of  Constantine.' 

'  What  means  your  reverence? '  said  Irene. 

'A  trifle,'  replied  the  Emperor,  'not  worthy  being 
quoted  from  such  a  mouth  as  the  Patriarch's,  being,  as 
it  probably  is,  a  relic  of  paganism.' 

'What  is  it?'  exclaimed  the  females  anxiously,  in  the 
u  129 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

hope  of  hearing  something  which  might  strengthen  their 
side  of  the  argument,  and  something  moved,  perhaps,  by 
curiosity,  a  motive  which  seldom  slumbers  in  a  female 
bosom,  even  when  the  stronger  passions  are  in  arms. 

'The  Patriarch  will  tell  you,'  answered  Alexius,  'since 
you  must  needs  know;  though,  I  promise  you,  you  will 
not  receive  any  assistance  in  your  argument  from  a  silly 
legendary  tale.' 

'Hear  it,  however,'  said  the  Patriarch;  'for,  though 
it  is  a  tale  of  the  olden  time,  and  sometimes  supposed 
to  refer  to  the  period  when  heathenism  predominated, 
it  is  no  less  true  that  it  was  a  vow  made  and  regis- 
tered in  the  chancery  of  the  rightful  Deity  by  an 
emperor  of  Greece. 

'What  I  am  now  to  relate  to  you,'  continued  he,  'is,  in 
truth,  a  tale  not  only  of  a  Christian  emperor,  but  of 
him  who  made  the  whole  empire  Christian;  and  of  that 
very  Constantine  who  was  also  the  first  who  declared 
Constantinople  to  be  the  metropolis  of  the  empire.  This 
hero,  remarkable  alike  for  his  zeal  for  rehgion  and  for  his 
warhke  achievements,  was  crowned  by  Heaven  with 
repeated  victory,  and  with  all  manner  of  blessings,  save 
that  unity  in  his  family  which  wise  men  are  most  ambi- 
tious to  possess.  Not  only  was  the  blessing  of  concord 
among  brethren  denied  to  the  family  of  this  triumphant 
emperor,  but  a  deserving  son  of  mature  age,  who  had 
been  supposed  to  aspire  to  share  the  throne  with  his 
father,  was  suddenly,  and  at  midnight,  called  upon  to 
enter  his  defence  against  a  capital  charge  of  treason. 
You  will  readily  excuse  my  referring  to  the  arts  by  which 
the  son  was  rendered  guilty  in  the  eyes  of  the  father.  Be 
it  enough  to  say,  that  the  unfortunate  young  man  fell  a 

130 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

victim  to  the  guilt  of  his  stepmother,  Fausta,  and  that  he 
disdained  to  exculpate  himself  from  a  charge  so  gross  and 
so  erroneous.  It  is  said  that  the  anger  of  the  Emperor 
was  kept  up  against  his  son  by  the  sycophants  who  called 
upon  Constantine  to  observe  that  the  culprit  disdained 
even  to  supplicate  for  mercy  or  vindicate  his  innocence 
from  so  foul  a  charge. 

'But  the  death-blow  had  no  sooner  struck  the  inno- 
cent youth  than  his  father  obtained  proof  of  the  rashness 
with  which  he  had  acted.  He  had  at  this  period  been 
engaged  in  constructing  the  subterranean  parts  of  the 
Blacquernal  Palace,  which  his  remorse  appointed  to 
contain  a  record  of  his  paternal  grief  and  contrition.  At 
the  upper  part  of  the  staircase,  called  the  Pit  of  Acheron, 
he  caused  to  be  constructed  a  large  chamber,  still  called 
the  Hall  of  Judgment,  for  the  purpose  of  execution.  A 
passage  through  an  archway  in  the  upper  wall  leads  from 
the  hall  to  the  place  of  misery,  where  the  axe,  or  other 
engine,  is  disposed  for  the  execution  of  state  prisoners 
of  consequence.  Over  this  archway  was  placed  a  species 
of  marble  altar,  surmounted  by  an  image  of  the  unfortu- 
nate Crispus;  the  materials  were  gold,  and  it  bore  the 
memorable  inscription.  To  my  son,  whom  I  rashly 
CONDEMNED,  AND  TOO  HASTILY  EXECUTED.  When  Con- 
structing this  passage,  Constantine  made  a  vow  that  he 
himself  and  his  posterity,  being  reigning  emperors,  would 
stand  beside  the  statue  of  Crispus  at  the  time  when  any 
individual  of  their  family  should  be  led  to  execution,  and, 
before  they  suffered  him  to  pass  from  the  Hall  of  Judg- 
ment to  the  chamber  of  death,  that  they  should  them- 
selves be  personally  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  charge 
under  which  he  suffered. 

131 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Time  rolled  on;  the  memory  of  Constantine  was  re- 
membered almost  like  that  of  a  saint,  and  the  respect 
paid  to  it  threw  into  shadow  the  anecdote  of  his  son's 
death.  The  exigencies  of  the  state  rendered  it  difficult 
to  keep  so  large  a  sum  in  specie  invested  in  a  statue, 
which  called  to  mind  the  unpleasant  failings  of  so  great 
a  man.  Your  Imperial  Highness's  predecessors  applied 
the  metal  which  formed  the  statue  to  support  the  Turk- 
ish wars;  and  the  remorse  and  penance  of  Constantine 
died  away  in  an  obscure  tradition  of  the  church  or  of  the 
palace.  Still,  however,  unless  your  Imperial  Majesty 
has  strong  reasons  to  the  contrary,  I  should  give  it  as 
my  opinion  that  you  will  hardly  achieve  what  is  due  to 
the  memory  of  the  greatest  of  your  predecessors  unless 
you  give  this  unfortunate  criminal,  being  so  near  a  rela- 
tion of  your  own,  an  opportunity  of  pleading  his  cause 
before  passing  by  the  altar  of  refuge,  being  the  name 
which  is  commonly  given  to  the  monument  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Crispus,  son  of  Constantine,  although  now  de- 
prived both  of  the  golden  letters  which  composed  the 
inscription  and  the  golden  image  which  represented  the 
royal  sufferer.' 

A  mournful  strain  of  music  was  now  heard  to  ascend 
the  stair  so  often  mentioned. 

*If  I  must  hear  the  Caesar  Nicephorus  Briennius  ere 
he  pass  the  altar  of  refuge,  there  must  be  no  loss  of  time,' 
said  the  Emperor ; '  for  these  melancholy  sounds  announce 
that  he  has  already  approached  the  Hall  of  Judgment.' 

Both  the  imperial  ladies  began  instantly,  with  the 
utmost  earnestness,  to  deprecate  the  execution  of  the 
Caesar's  doom,  and  to  conjure  Alexius,  as  he  hoped  for 
quiet  in  his  household,  and  the  everlasting  gratitude  of 

132 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

his  wife  and  daughter,  that  he  would  listen  to  their 
entreaties  in  behalf  of  an  unfortunate  man,  who  had 
been  seduced  into  guilt,  but  not  from  his  heart. 

'I  will  at  least  see  him,'  said  the  Emperor,  *and  the 
holy  vow  of  Constantine  shall  be  in  the  present  instance 
strictly  observed.  But  remember,  you  foolish  women, 
that  the  state  of  Crispus  and  the  present  Caesar  is  as 
different  as  guilt  from  innocence,  and  that  their  fates, 
therefore,  may  be  justly  decided  upon  opposite  princi- 
ples and  with  opposite  results.  But  I  will  confront  this 
criminal;  and  you.  Patriarch,  may  be  present  to  render 
what  help  is  in  your  power  to  a  dying  man ;  for  you,  the 
wife  and  mother  of  the  traitor,  you  will,  methinks,  do 
well  to  retire  to  the  church,  and  pray  God  for  the  soul  of 
the  deceased,  rather  than  disturb  his  last  moments  with 
unavailing  lamentations.' 

'Alexius,'  said  the  Empress  Irene,  *I  beseech  you  to 
be  contented ;  be  assured  that  we  will  not  leave  you  in 
this  dogged  humour  of  blood-shedding,  lest  you  make 
such  materials  for  history  as  are  fitter  for  the  time  of 
Nero  than  of  Constantine.' 

The  Emperor,  without  reply,  led  the  way  into  the 
Hall  of  Judgment,  where  a  much  stronger  light  than 
usual  was  already  shining  up  the  stair  of  Acheron,  from 
which  were  heard  to  sound,  by  sullen  and  intermitted 
fits,  the  penitential  psalms  which  the  Greek  Church  has 
appointed  to  be  sung  at  executions.  Twenty  mute  slaves, 
the  pale  colour  of  whose  turbans  gave  a  ghastly  look  to 
the  withered  cast  of  their  features  and  the  glaring  white- 
ness of  their  eyeballs,  ascended  two  by  two,  as  it  were 
from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  each  of  them  bearing  in 
one  hand  a  naked  sabre  and  in  the  other  a  lighted  torch. 

133 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

After  these  came  the  unfortunate  Nicephorus;  his  looks 
were  those  of  a  man  half-dead  from  the  terror  of  imme- 
diate dissolution,  and  what  he  possessed  of  remaining 
attention  was  turned  successively  to  two  black-stoled 
monks,  who  were  anxiously  repeating  religious  passages 
to  him  alternately  from  the  Greek  Scripture  and  the  form 
of  devotion  adopted  by  the  court  of  Constantinople. 
The  CjEsar's  dress  also  corresponded  to  his  mournful 
fortunes :  his  legs  and  arms  were  bare,  and  a  simple  white 
tunic,  the  neck  of  which  was  already  open,  showed  that 
he  had  assumed  the  garments  which  were  to  serve  his 
last  turn.  A  tall  muscular  Nubian  slave,  who  consid- 
ered himself  obviously  as  the  principal  person  in  the 
procession,  bore  on  his  shoulder  a  large  heavy  heads- 
man's axe,  and,  hke  a  demon  waiting  on  a  sorcerer, 
stalked  step  for  step  after  his  victim.  The  rear  of  the 
procession  was  closed  by  a  band  of  four  priests,  each  of 
whom  chanted  from  time  to  time  the  devotional  psalm 
which  was  thundered  forth  on  the  occasion ;  and  another 
of  slaves,  armed  with  bows  and  quivers,  and  with  lances, 
to  resist  any  attempt  at  rescue,  if  such  should  be  offered. 

It  would  have  required  a  harder  heart  than  that  of  the 
unlucky  princess  to  have  resisted  this  gloomy  apparatus 
of  fear  and  sorrow,  surrounding,  at  the  same  time  di- 
rected against,  a  beloved  object,  the  lover  of  her  youth, 
and  the  husband  of  her  bosom,  within  a  few  minutes  of 
the  termination  of  his  mortal  career. 

As  the  mournful  train  approached  towards  the  altar 
of  refuge,  half -encircled  as  it  now  was  by  the  two  great 
and  expanded  arms  which  projected  from  the  wall,  the 
Emperor,  who  stood  directly  in  the  passage,  threw  upon 
the  flame  of  the  altar  some  chips  of  aromatic  wood, 

134 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

steeped  in  spirit  of  wine,  which,  leaping  at  once  into  a 
blaze,  illuminated  the  doleful  procession,  the  figure  of 
the  principal  culprit,  and  the  slaves,  who  had  most  of 
them  extinguished  their  flambeaux  so  soon  as  they  had 
served  the  purpose  of  lighting  them  up  the  staircase. 

The  sudden  light  spread  from  the  altar  failed  not  to 
make  the  Emperor  and  the  Princesses  visible  to  the 
mournful  group  which  approached  through  the  hall. 
All  halted  —  all  were  silent.  It  was  a  meeting,  as  the 
Princess  has  expressed  herself  in  her  historical  work, 
such  as  took  place  betwixt  Ulysses  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  other  world,  who,  when  they  tasted  of  the  blood 
of  his  sacrifices,  recognised  him  indeed,  but  with  empty 
lamentations,  and  gestures  feeble  and  shadowy.  The 
hymn  of  contrition  sunk  also  into  silence;  and,  of  the 
whole  group,  the  only  figure  rendered  more  distinct  was 
the  gigantic  executioner,  whose  high  and  furrowed  fore- 
head, as  well  as  the  broad  steel  of  his  axe,  caught  and 
reflected  back  the  bright  gleam  from  the  altar.  Alexius 
saw  the  necessity  of  breaking  the  silence  which  ensued, 
lest  it  should  give  the  intercessors  for  the  prisoner  an 
opportunity  of  renewing  their  entreaties. 

'Nicephorus  Briennius,'  he  said,  with  a  voice  which, 
although  generally  interrupted  by  a  slight  hesitation, 
which  procured  him,  among  his  enemies,  the  nickname 
of  the  Stutterer,  yet,  upon  important  occasions  like  the 
present,  was  so  judiciously  tuned  and  balanced  in  its 
sentences  that  no  such  defect  was  at  all  visible  — 
'Nicephorus  Briennius,'  he  said,  'late  Caesar,  the  lawful 
doom  hath  been  spoken,  that,  having  conspired  against 
the  life  of  thy  rightful  sovereign  and  affectionate  father, 
Alexius  Comnenus,  thou  shalt  suffer  the  appropriate 

135 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

sentence,  by  having  thy  head  struck  from  thy  body. 
Here,  therefore,  at  the  last  altar  of  refuge,  I  meet  thee, 
according  to  the  vow  of  the  immortal  Constantine,  for 
the  purpose  of  demanding  whether  thou  hast  anything 
to  allege  why  this  doom  should  not  be  executed?  Even 
at  this  eleventh  hour  thy  tongue  is  unloosed  to  speak 
with  freedom  what  may  concern  thy  life.  All  is  prepared 
in  this  world  and  in  the  next.  Look  forward  beyond  yon 
archway  —  the  block  is  fixed.  Look  behind  thee,  thou 
see'st  the  axe  already  sharpened.  Thy  place  for  good  or 
evil  in  the  next  world  is  already  determined;  time  flies, 
—  eternity  approaches.  If  thou  hast  aught  to  say,  speak 
it  freely;  if  nought,  confess  the  justice  of  thy  sentence, 
and  pass  on  to  death.' 

The  Emperor  commenced  this  oration  with  those 
looks  described  by  his  daughter  as  so  piercing  that  they 
dazzled  like  lightning,  and  his  periods,  if  not  precisely 
flowing  like  burning  lava,  were  yet  the  accents  of  a  man 
having  the  power  of  absolute  command,  and  as  such 
produced  an  effect  not  only  on  the  criminal,  but  also 
upon  the  Prince  himself,  whose  watery  eyes  and  falter- 
ing voice  acknowledged  his  sense  and  feeling  of  the  fatal 
import  of  the  present  moment. 

Rousing  himself  to  the  conclusion  of  what  he  had  com- 
menced, the  Emperor  again  demanded  whether  the 
prisoner  had  anything  to  say  in  his  own  defence. 

Nicephorus  was  not  one  of  those  hardened  criminals 
who  may  be  termed  the  very  prodigies  of  history,  from 
the  coolness  with  which  they  contemplated  the  consum- 
mation of  their  crimes,  whether  in  their  own  punishment 
or  the  misfortunes  of  others.  *I  have  been  tempted,'  he 
said,  dropping  on  his  knees,  'and  I  have  fallen.   I  have 

136 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

nothing  to  allege  in  excuse  of  my  folly  and  ingratitude; 
but  I  stand  prepared  to  die  to  expiate  my  guilt.'  A  deep 
sigh,  almost  amounting  to  a  scream,  was  here  heard,  close 
behind  the  Emperor,  and  its  cause  assigned  by  the  sud- 
den exclamation  of  Irene  —  '  My  lord  —  my  lord,  your 
daughter  is  gone ! '  And  in  fact  Anna  Comnena  had  sunk 
into  her  mother's  arms  without  either  sense  or  motion. 
The  father's  attention  was  instantly  called  to  support 
his  swooning  child,  while  the  unhappy  husband  strove 
with  the  guards  to  be  permitted  to  go  to  the  assistance 
of  his  wife.  'Give  me  but  five  minutes  of  that  time 
which  the  law  has  abridged;  let  my  efforts  but  assist  in 
recalling  her  to  a  Ufe  which  should  be  as  long  as  her 
virtues  and  her  talents  deserve;  and  then  let  me  die  at 
her  feet,  for  I  care  not  to  go  an  inch  beyond.' 

The  Emperor,  who  in  fact  had  been  more  astonished 
at  the  boldness  and  rashness  of  Nicephorus  than  alarmed 
by  his  power,  considered  him  as  a  man  rather  misled 
than  misleading  others,  and  felt,  therefore,  the  full  effect 
of  this  last  interview.  He  was,  besides,  not  naturally 
cruel,  where  severities  were  to  be  enforced  under  his  own 
eye. 

'The  divine  and  immortal  Constantine,'  he  said,  'did 
not,  I  am  persuaded,  subject  his  descendants  to  this 
severe  trial  in  order  further  to  search  out  the  innocence 
of  the  criminals,  but  rather  to  give  to  those  who  came 
after  him  an  opportunity  of  generously  forgiving  a  crime 
which  could  not  without  pardon  —  the  express  pardon 
of  the  prince  —  escape  without  punishment.  I  rejoice 
that  I  am  born  of  the  willow  rather  than  of  the  oak,  and 
I  acknowledge  my  weakness,  that  not  even  the  safety 
of  my  own  life,  or  resentment  of  this  unhappy  man's 

137 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

treasonable  machinations,  have  the  same  effect  with  me 
as  the  tears  of  my  wife  and  the  swooning  of  my  daughter. 
Rise  up,  Nicephorus  Briennius,  freely  pardoned,  and 
restored  even  to  the  rank  of  Cassar.  We  will  direct  thy 
pardon  to  be  made  out  by  the  great  Logothete,  and 
sealed  with  the  golden  bull.  For  four-and-twenty  hours 
thou  art  a  prisoner,  until  an  arrangement  is  made  for 
preserving  the  public  peace.  Meanwhile,  thou  wilt 
remain  under  the  charge  of  the  Patriarch,  who  will  be 
answerable  for  thy  forthcoming.  Daughter  and  wife, 
you  must  now  go  hence  to  your  own  apartment;  a  future 
time  will  come,  during  which  you  may  have  enough  of 
weeping  and  embracing,  mourning  and  rejoicing.  Pray 
Heaven  that  I,  who,  having  been  trained  on  till  I  have 
sacrificed  justice  and  true  policy  to  uxorious  compassion 
and  paternal  tenderness  of  heart,  may  not  have  cause  at 
last  for  grieving  in  good  earnest  for  all  the  events  of  this 
miscellaneous  drama.' 

The  pardoned  Cassar,  who  endeavoured  to  regulate 
his  ideas  according  to  this  unexpected  change,  found  it  as 
difficult  to  reconcile  himself  to  the  reality  of  his  situa- 
tion as  Ursel  to  the  face  of  nature,  after  having  been 
long  deprived  of  enjo3dng  it;  so  much  do  the  dizziness 
and  confusion  of  ideas  occasioned  by  moral  and  physical 
causes  of  surprise  and  terror  resemble  each  other  in  their 
effects  on  the  understanding. 

At  length  he  stammered  forth  a  request  that  he  might 
be  permitted  to  go  to  the  field  with  the  Emperor,  and 
divert,  by  the  interposition  of  his  own  body,  the  traitor- 
ous blows  which  some  desperate  man  might  aim  against 
that  of  his  prince,  in  a  day  which  was  too  likely  to  be  one 
of  danger  and  bloodshed. 

138 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

'Hold  there!'  said  Alexius  Comnenus.  *We  will  not 
begin  thy  newly-redeemed  life  by  renewed  doubts  of 
thine  allegiance;  yet  it  is  but  fitting  to  remind  thee  that 
thou  art  still  the  nominal  and  ostensible  head  of  those 
who  expect  to  take  a  part  in  this  day's  insurrection,  and 
it  will  be  the  safest  course  to  trust  its  pacification  to 
others  than  to  thee.  Go,  sir,  compare  notes  with  the 
Patriarch,  and  merit  your  pardon  by  confessing  to  him 
any  traitorous  intentions  concerning  this  foul  conspiracy 
with  which  we  may  be  as  yet  unacquainted.  Daughter 
and  wife,  farewell !  I  must  now  depart  for  the  lists,  where 
I  have  to  speak  with  the  traitor  Achilles  Tatius  and  the 
heathenish  infidel  Agelastes,  if  he  still  lives,  but  of  whose 
providential  death  I  hear  a  confirmed  rumour.' 

*Yet  do  not  go,  my  dearest  father,'  said  the  Princess; 
*  but  let  me  rather  go  to  encourage  the  loyal  subjects  in 
your  behalf.  The  extreme  kindness  which  you  have 
extended  towards  my  guilty  husband  convinces  me  of 
the  extent  of  your  affection  towards  your  unworthy 
daughter,  and  the  greatness  of  the  sacrifice  which  you 
have  made  to  her  almost  childish  affection  for  an  ungrate- 
ful man  who  put  your  life  in  danger.' 

'That  is  to  say,  daughter,'  said  the  Emperor,  smiling, 
'that  the  pardon  of  your  husband  is  a  boon  which  has 
lost  its  merit  when  it  is  granted?  Take  my  advice,  Anna, 
and  think  otherwise :  wives  and  their  husbands  ought  in 
prudence  to  forget  their  offences  towards  each  other  as 
soon  as  human  nature  will  permit  them.  Life  is  too  short 
and  conjugal  tranquillity  too  uncertain,  to  admit  of 
dwelling  long  upon  such  irritating  subjects.  To  your 
apartments.  Princesses,  and  prepare  the  scarlet  buskins 
and  the  embroidery  which  is  displayed  on  the  cuffs  and 

139 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

collars  of  the  Ca3sar's  robe,  indicative  of  his  high  rank. 
He  must  not  be  seen  without  them  on  the  morrow. 
Reverend  father,  I  remind  you  once  more  that  the 
Caesar  is  in  your  personal  custody  from  this  moment  until 
to-morrow  at  the  same  hour.' 

They  parted ;  the  Emperor  repairing  to  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  Varangian  Guards;  the  Ceesar,  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  Patriarch,  withdrawing  into 
the  interior  of  the  Blacquernal  Palace,  where  Nicephorus 
Briennius  was  under  the  necessity  of  'unthreading  the 
rude  eye  of  rebellion,'  and  throwing  such  lights  as  were 
in  his  power  upon  the  progress  of  the  conspiracy. 

'Agelastes,'  he  said,  'Achilles  Tatius,  and  Hereward 
the  Varangian  were  the  persons  principally  entrusted  in 
its  progress.  But  whether  they  had  been  all  true  to  their 
engagements  he  did  not  pretend  to  be  assured.' 

In  the  female  apartments  there  was  a  violent  discus- 
sion betwixt  Anna  Comnena  and  her  mother.  The 
Princess  had  undergone  during  the  day  many  changes 
of  sentiment  and  feeling;  and  though  they  had  finally 
united  themselves  into  one  strong  interest  in  her  hus- 
band's favour,  yet  no  sooner  was  the  fear  of  his  punish- 
ment removed  than  the  sense  of  his  ungrateful  behav- 
iour began  to  revive.  She  became  sensible  also  that  a 
woman  of  her  extraordinary  attainments,  who  had  been 
by  a  universal  course  of  flattery  disposed  to  entertain  a 
very  high  opinion  of  her  own  consequence,  made  rather 
a  poor  figure  when  she  had  been  the  passive  subject  of 
a  long  series  of  intrigues,  by  which  she  was  destined  to 
be  disposed  of  in  one  way  or  the  other,  according  to  the 
humour  of  a  set  of  subordinate  conspirators,  who  never 
so  much  as  dreamed  of  regarding  her  as  a  being  capable 

140 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

of  forming  a  wish  in  her  own  behalf,  or  even  yielding  or 
refusing  a  consent.  Her  father's  authority  over  her,  and 
right  to  dispose  of  her,  was  less  questionable;  but  even 
then  it  was  something  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  a 
princess  born  in  the  purple  —  an  authoress  besides,  and 
giver  of  immortality  —  to  be,  without  her  own  consent, 
thrown,  as  it  were,  at  the  head  now  of  one  suitor,  now  of 
another,  however  mean  or  disgusting,  whose  alliance 
could  for  the  time  benefit  the  Emperor.  The  consequence 
of  these  moody  reflections  was,  that  Anna  Comnena 
deeply  toiled  in  spirit  for  the  discovery  of  some  means 
by  which  she  might  assert  her  sullied  dignity,  and  various 
were  the  expedients  which  she  revolved. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 


But  now  the  hand  of  fate  is  on  the  curtain, 
And  brings  the  scene  to  light. 

Don  Sebastian. 


The  gigantic  trumpet  of  the  Varangians  sounded  its 
loudest  note  of  march,  and  the  squadrons  of  the  faithful 
guards,  sheathed  in  complete  mail,  and  inclosing  in  their 
centre  the  person  of  their  imperial  master,  set  forth  upon 
their  procession  through  the  streets  of  Constantinople. 
The  form  of  Alexius,  ghttering  in  his  splendid  armour, 
seemed  no  unmeet  central  point  for  the  force  of  an  em- 
pire ;  and  while  the  citizens  crowded  in  the  train  of  him 
and  his  escort,  there  might  be  seen  a  visible  difference 
between  those  who  came  with  the  premeditated  inten- 
tion of  tumult  and  the  greater  part,  who,  Hke  the  multi- 
tude of  every  great  city,  thrust  each  other  and  shout  for 
rapture  on  account  of  any  cause  for  which  a  crowd  may 
be  collected  together.  The  hope  of  the  conspirators  was 
lodged  chiefly  in  the  Immortal  Guards,  who  were  levied 
principally  for  the  defence  of  Constantinople,  partook 
of  the  general  prejudices  of  the  citizens,  and  had  been 
particularly  influenced  by  those  in  favour  of  Ursel,  by 
whom,  previous  to  his  imprisonment,  they  had  them- 
selves been  commanded.  The  conspirators  had  deter- 
mined that  those  of  this  body  who  were  considered  as 
most  discontented  should  early  in  the  morning  take 
possession  of  the  posts  in  the  lists  most  favourable  for 
their  purpose  of  assaulting  the  Emperor's  person.  But, 
in  spite  of  all  efforts  short  of  actual  violence,  for  which 

142 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  time  did  not  seem  to  be  come,  they  found  them- 
selves disappointed  in  this  purpose  by  parties  of  the 
Varangian  Guards,  planted  with  apparent  carelessness, 
but,  in  fact,  with  perfect  skill,  for  the  prevention  of  their 
enterprise.  Somewhat  confounded  at  perceiving  that  a 
design  which  they  could  not  suppose  to  be  suspected  was, 
nevertheless,  on  every  part  controlled  and  counter- 
checked,  the  conspirators  began  to  look  for  the  principal 
persons  of  their  own  party,  on  whom  they  depended 
for  orders  in  this  emergency;  but  neither  the  Caesar 
nor  Agelastes  was  to  be  seen,  whether  in  the  lists  or  on 
the  military  march  from  Constantinople;  and  though 
Achilles  Tatius  rode  in  the  latter  assembly,  yet  it  might 
be  clearly  observed  that  he  was  rather  attending  upon 
the  Protospathaire  than  assuming  that  independence  as 
an  officer  which  he  loved  to  affect. 

In  this  manner,  as  the  Emperor  with  his  glittering 
bands  approached  the  phalanx  of  Tancred  and  his  fol- 
lowers, who  were  drawn  up,  it  will  be  remembered,  upon 
a  rising  cape  between  the  city  and  the  lists,  the  main  body 
of  the  imperial  procession  deflected  in  some  degree  from 
the  straight  road  in  order  to  march  past  them  without 
interruption;  while  the  Protospathaire  and  the  Acolyte 
passed,  under  the  escort  of  a  band  of  Varangians,  to 
bear  the  Emperor's  inquiries  to  Prince  Tancred  con- 
cerning the  purpose  of  his  being  there  with  his  band. 
The  short  march  was  soon  performed ;  the  large  trumpet 
which  attended  the  two  officers  sounded  a  parley,  and 
Tancred  himself,  remarkable  for  that  personal  beauty 
which  Tasso  has  preferred  to  any  of  the  crusaders, 
except  Rinaldo  D'Este,  the  creature  of  his  own  poetical 
imagination,  advanced  to  parley  with  them. 

143 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'The  Emperor  of  Greece,'  said  the  Protospathaire  to 
Tancred,  'requires  the  Prince  of  Otranto  to  show,  by 
the  two  high  officers  who  shall  deliver  him  this  message, 
with  what  purpose  he  has  returned,  contrary  to  his  oath, 
to  the  right  side  of  these  straits;  assuring  Prince  Tan- 
cred, at  the  same  time,  that  nothing  will  so  much  please 
the  Emperor  as  to  receive  an  answer  not  at  variance 
with  his  treaty  with  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  and  the  oath 
which  was  taken  by  the  crusading  nobles  and  their  sol- 
diers; since  that  would  enable  the  Emperor,  in  conform- 
ity to  his  own  wishes,  by  his  kind  reception  of  Prince 
Tancred  and  his  troop,  to  show  how  high  is  his  estima- 
tion of  the  dignity  of  the  one  and  the  bravery  of  both. 
We  wait  an  answer.' 

The  tone  of  the  message  had  nothing  in  it  very  alarm- 
ing, and  its  substance  cost  Prince  Tancred  very  little 
trouble  to  answer.  '  The  cause,'  he  said, '  of  the  Prince  of 
Otranto  appearing  here  with  fifty  lances  is  this  cartel, 
in  which  a  combat  is  appointed  betwixt  Nicephorus 
Briennius,  called  the  Caesar,  a  high  member  of  this 
empire,  and  a  worthy  knight  of  great  fame,  the  partner 
of  the  pilgrims  who  have  taken  the  cross,  in  their  high 
vow  to  rescue  Palestine  from  the  infidels.  The  name  of 
the  said  knight  is  the  redoubted  Robert  of  Paris.  It 
becomes,  therefore,  an  obligation,  indispensable  upon 
the  holy  pilgrims  of  the  crusade,  to  send  one  chief  of  their 
number,  with  a  body  of  men-at-arms,  sufficient  to  see,  as 
is  usual,  fair-play  between  the  combatants.  That  such 
is  their  intention  may  be  seen  from  their  sending  no 
more  than  fifty  lances,  with  their  furniture  and  follow- 
ing; whereas  it  would  have  cost  them  no  trouble  to  have 
detached  ten  tiines  the  number,  had  they  nourished  any 

144 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

purpose  of  interfering  by  force,  or  disturbing  the  fair 
combat  which  is  about  to  take  place.  The  Prince  of 
Otranto,  therefore,  and  his  followers,  will  place  them- 
selves at  the  disposal  of  the  imperial  court,  and  witness 
the  proceedings  of  the  combat,  with  the  most  perfect 
confidence  that  the  rules  of  fair  battle  will  be  punctually 
observed.' 

The  two  Grecian  officers  transmitted  this  reply  to  the 
Emperor,  who  heard  it  with  pleasure,  and,  immediately 
proceeding  to  act  upon  the  principle  which  he  had  laid 
down,  of  maintaining  peace,  if  possible,  with  the  crusa- 
ders, named  Prince  Tancred  with  the  Protospathaire  as 
field-marshals  of  the  lists,  fully  empowered,  under  the 
Emperor,  to  decide  all  the  terms  of  the  combat,  and  to 
have  recourse  to  Alexius  himself  where  their  opinions 
disagreed.  This  was  made  known  to  the  assistants,  who 
were  thus  prepared  for  the  entry  into  the  lists  of  the 
Grecian  officer  and  the  ItaHan  prince  in  full  armour, 
while  a  proclamation  announced  to  all  the  spectators 
their  solemn  office.  The  same  annunciation  commanded 
the  assistants  of  every  kind  to  clear  a  convenient  part 
of  the  seats  which  surrounded  the  lists  on  one  side,  that 
it  might  serve  for  the  accommodation  of  Prince  Tan- 
cred's  followers. 

Achilles  Tatius,  who  was  a  heedful  observer  of  all 
these  passages,  saw  with  alarm  that  by  the  last  colloca- 
tion the  armed  Latins  were  interposed  between  the  Im- 
mortal Guards  and  the  discontented  citizens,  which 
made  it  most  probable  that  the  conspiracy  was  discov- 
ered, and  that  Alexius  found  he  had  a  good  right  to 
reckon  upon  the  assistance  of  Tancred  and  his  forces  in 
the  task  of  suppressing  it.  This,  added  to  the  cold  and 

44  145 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

caustic  manner  in  which  the  Emperor  communicated  his 
commands  to  him,  made  the  Acolyte  of  opinion  that  his 
best  chance  of  escape  from  the  danger  in  which  he  was 
now  placed  was,  that  the  whole  conspiracy  should  fall 
to  the  ground,  and  that  the  day  should  pass  without  the 
least  attempt  to  shake  the  throne  of  Alexius  Comnenus. 
Even  then  it  continued  highly  doubtful  whether  a  des- 
pot so  wily  and  so  suspicious  as  the  Emperor  would 
think  it  sufl&cient  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  private  know- 
ledge of  the  imdertaking  and  its  failure,  with  which  he 
appeared  to  be  possessed,  without  putting  into  exercise 
the  bow-strings  and  the  blinding-irons  of  the  mutes  of 
the  interior.  There  was,  however,  Httle  possibility  either 
of  flight  or  of  resistance.  The  least  attempt  to  withdraw 
himself  from  the  neighbourhood  of  those  faithful  follow- 
ers of  the  Emperor,  personal  foes  of  his  own,  by  whom 
he  was  gradually  and  more  closely  surrounded,  became 
each  moment  more  perilous,  and  more  certain  to  provoke 
a  rupture  which  it  was  the  interest  of  the  weaker  party 
to  delay,  with  whatever  difficulty.  And  while  the  sol- 
diers under  Achilles's  immediate  authority  seemed  still 
to  treat  him  as  their  superior  ofi&cer,  and  appeal  to  him 
for  the  word  of  command,  it  became  more  and  more  evi- 
dent that  the  slightest  degree  of  suspicion  which  should 
be  excited  would  be  the  instant  signal  for  his  being 
placed  under  arrest.  With  a  trembling  heart,  therefore, 
and  eyes  dimmed  by  the  powerful  idea  of  soon  parting 
with  the  light  of  day  and  all  that  made  it  visible,  the 
Acolyte  saw  himself  condemned  to  watch  the  turn  of 
circumstances,  over  which  he  could  have  no  influence, 
and  to  content  himself  with  waiting  the  result  of  a 
drama,  in  which  his  own  life  was  concerned,  although 

146 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  piece  was  played  by  others.  Indeed,  it  seemed  as  if 
through  the  whole  assembly  some  signal  was  waited  for, 
which  no  one  was  in  readiness  to  give. 

The  discontented  citizens  and  soldiers  looked  in  vain 
for  Agelastes  and  the  Caesar;  and  when  they  observed 
the  condition  of  Achilles  Tatius,  it  seemed  such  as  rather 
to  express  doubt  and  consternation  than  to  give  encour- 
agement to  the  hopes  they  had  entertained.  Many  of 
the  lower  classes,  however,  felt  too  secure  in  their  own 
insignificance  to  fear  the  personal  consequences  of  a 
tumult,  and  were  desirous,  therefore,  to  provoke  the  dis- 
turbance, which  seemed  hushing  itself  to  sleep. 

A  hoarse  murmur,  which  attained  almost  the  import- 
ance of  a  shout,  exclaimed  —  '  Justice  —  justice !  Ursel 
—  Ursel!  The  rights  of  the  Immortal  Guards!'  etc.  At 
this  the  trumpet  of  the  Varangians  awoke,  and  its  tre- 
mendous tones  were  heard  to  peal  loudly  over  the  whole 
assembly,  as  the  voice  of  its  presiding  deity.  A  dead 
silence  prevailed  in  the  multitude,  and  the  voice  of  a 
herald  announced,  in  the  name  of  Alexius  Comnenus, 
his  sovereign  will  and  pleasure. 

'Citizens  of  the  Roman  empire,  your  complaints, 
stirred  up  by  factious  men,  have  reached  the  ear  of  your 
Emperor;  you  shall  yourselves  be  witness  to  his  power 
of  gratifying  his  people.  At  your  request,  and  before 
your  own  sight,  the  visual  ray  which  hath  been  quenched 
shall  be  rcillumincd;  the  mind  whose  efforts  were  re- 
stricted to  the  imperfect  supply  of  individual  wants  shall 
be  again  extended,  if  such  is  the  owner's  will,  to  the 
charge  of  an  ample  theme  or  division  of  the  empire.  Po- 
litical jealousy,  more  hard  to  receive  conviction  than  the 
blind  to  receive  sight,  shall  yield  itself  conquered,  by  the 

147 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Emperor's  paternal  love  of  his  people  and  his  desire  to 
give  them  satisfaction.  Ursel,  the  darling  of  your  wishes, 
supposed  to  be  long  dead,  or  at  least  believed  to  exist  in 
blinded  seclusion,  is  restored  to  you  well  in  health,  clear 
in  eyesight,  and  possessed  of  every  faculty  necessary  to 
adorn  the  Emperor's  favour  or  merit  the  affection  of 
the  people.' 

As  the  herald  thus  spoke,  a  figure,  which  had  hitherto 
stood  shrouded  behind  some  officers  of  the  interior,  now 
stepped  forth,  and  flinging  from  him  a  dusky  veil,  in 
which  he  was  wrapt,  appeared  in  a  dazzHng  scarlet  gar- 
ment, of  which  the  sleeves  and  buskins  displayed  those 
ornaments  which  expressed  a  rank  nearly  adjacent  to 
that  of  the  Emperor  himself.  He  held  in  his  hand  a  silver 
truncheon,  the  badge  of  delegated  command  over  the 
Immortal  Guards,  and,  kneeling  before  the  Emperor, 
presented  it  to  his  hands,  intimating  a  virtual  resigna- 
tion of  the  command  which  it  implied.  The  whole  as- 
sembly were  electrified  at  the  appearance  of  a  person 
long  supposed  either  dead  or  by  cruel  means  rendered 
incapable  of  public  trust.  Some  recognised  the  man 
whose  appearance  and  features  were  not  easily  forgot, 
and  gratulated  him  upon  his  most  unexpected  return 
to  the  service  of  his  country.  Others  stood  suspended  in 
amazement,  not  knowing  whether  to  trust  their  eyes, 
while  a  few  determined  malcontents  eagerly  pressed  upon 
the  assembly  an  allegation  that  the  person  presented 
as  Ursel  was  only  a  counterfeit,  and  the  whole  a  trick  of 
the  Emperor. 

'Speak  to  them,  noble  Ursel,'  said  the  Emperor.  'Tell 
them  that,  if  I  have  sinned  against  thee,  it  has  been  be- 
cause I  was  deceived,  and  that  my  disposition  to  make 

148 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

thee  amends  is  as  ample  as  ever  was  my  purpose  of  doing 
thee  wrong.' 

'Friends  and  countrymen/  said  Ursel,  turning  himself 
to  the  assembly,  'his  Imperial  Majesty  permits  me  to 
offer  my  assurance  that,  if  in  any  former  part  of  my  life 
I  have  suffered  at  his  hand,  it  is  more  than  wiped  out  by 
the  feelings  of  a  moment  so  glorious  as  this;  and  that  I 
am  well  satisfied,  from  the  present  instant,  to  spend 
what  remains  of  my  life  in  the  service  of  the  most  gener- 
ous and  beneficent  of  sovereigns,  or,  with  his  permission, 
to  bestow  it  in  preparing,  by  devotional  exercises,  for  an 
infinite  immortality  to  be  spent  in  the  society  of  saints 
and  angels.  Whichever  choice  I  shall  make,  I  reckon 
that  you,  my  beloved  countrymen,  who  have  remem- 
bered me  so  kindly  during  years  of  darkness  and  captiv- 
ity, will  not  fail  to  afford  me  the  advantage  of  your 
prayers.' 

This  sudden  apparition  of  the  long-lost  Ursel  had  too 
much  of  that  which  elevates  and  surprises  not  to  capti- 
vate the  multitude,  and  they  sealed  their  reconciliation 
with  three  tremendous  shouts,  which  are  said  so  to  have 
shaken  the  air  that  birds,  incapable  of  sustaining  them- 
selves, sunk  down  exhausted  out  of  their  native  element. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

'What,  leave  the  combat  out!'  exclaimed  the  knight. 
'Yea!  or  we  must  renounce  the  Stagy  rite.' 
'So  large  a  crowd  the  stage  will  ne'er  contain.' 
'Then  build  a  new,  or  act  it  on  a  plain.' 

Pope. 

The  sounds  of  the  gratulating  shout  had  expanded  over 
the  distant  shores  of  the  Bosphorus  by  mountain  and 
forest,  and  died  at  length  in  the  farthest  echoes,  when  the 
people,  in  the  silence  which  ensued,  appeared  to  ask  each 
other  what  next  scene  was  about  to  adorn  a  pause  so 
solemn  and  a  stage  so  august.  The  pause  would  probably 
have  soon  given  place  to  some  new  clamour,  for  a  multi- 
tude, from  whatever  cause  assembled,  seldom  remains 
long  silent,  had  not  a  new  signal  from  the  Varangian 
trumpet  given  notice  of  a  fresh  purpose  to  solicit  their 
attention.  The  blast  had  something  in  its  tone  spirit- 
stirring  and  yet  melancholy,  partaking  both  of  the  char- 
acter of  a  point  of  war  and  of  the  doleful  sounds  which 
might  be  chosen  to  announce  an  execution  of  pecuHar 
solemnity.  Its  notes  were  high  and  widely  extended, 
and  prolonged  and  long  dwelt  upon,  as  if  the  brazen 
clamour  had  been  waked  by  something  more  tremend- 
ous than  the  lungs  of  mere  mortals. 

The  multitude  appeared  to  acknowledge  these  awful 
sounds,  which  were  indeed  such  as  habitually  solicited 
their  attention  to  imperial  edicts  of  melancholy  import, 
by  which  rebelHons  were  announced,  dooms  of  treason 
discharged,  and  other  tidings  of  a  great  and  affecting 

150 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

import  intimated  to  the  people  of  Constantinople.  When 
the  trumpet  had  in  its  turn  ceased,  with  its  thrilhng  and 
doleful  notes,  to  agitate  the  immense  assembly,  the  voice 
of  the  herald  again  addressed  them. 

It  announced  in  a  grave  and  affecting  strain,  that  it 
sometimes  chanced  how  the  people  failed  in  their  duty 
to  a  sovereign,  who  was  unto  them  as  a  father,  and  how 
it  became  the  painful  duty  of  the  prince  to  use  the  rod 
of  correction  rather  than  the  olive  sceptre  of  mercy. 

'Fortunate,'  continued  the  herald,  'it  is  when  the 
supreme  Deity,  having  taken  on  Himself  the  preserva- 
tion of  a  throne  in  beneficence  and  justice  resembling 
His  own,  has  also  assumed  the  most  painful  task  of  His 
earthly  delegate,  by  punishing  those  whom  His  unerring 
judgment  acknowledges  as  most  guilty,  and  leaving  to 
His  substitute  the  more  agreeable  task  of  pardoning  such 
of  those  as  art  has  misled,  and  treachery  hath  involved 
in  its  snares.  Such  being  the  case,  Greece  and  its  accom- 
panying themes  are  called  upon  to  listen  and  learn,  that 
a  villain,  named  Agelastes,  who  had  insinuated  himself 
into  the  favour  of  the  Emperor,  by  affectation  of  deep 
knowledge  and  severe  virtue,  had  formed  a  treacherous 
plan  for  the  murder  of  the  Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus, 
and  a  revolution  in  the  state.  This  person,  who,  under 
pretended  wisdom,  hid  the  doctrines  of  a  heretic  and  the 
vices  of  a  sensualist,  had  found  proselytes  to  his  doc- 
trines even  among  the  Emperor's  household,  and  those 
persons  who  were  most  bound  to  him,  and  down  to  the 
lower  order,  to  excite  the  last  of  whom  were  dispersed  a 
multitude  of  forged  rumours,  similar  to  those  concerning 
Urscl's  death  and  blindness,  of  which  your  own  eyes  have 
witnessed  the  falsehood.' 

151 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  people,  who  had  hitherto  listened  in  silence,  upon 
this  appeal  broke  forth  in  a  clamorous  assent.  They  had 
scarcely  been  again  silent  ere  the  iron- voiced  herald  con- 
tinued his  proclamation. 

'Not  Korah, Dathan, and  Abiram/  he  said,  'had  more 
justly,  or  more  directly,  fallen  under  the  doom  of  an 
offended  Deity  than  this  villain  Agelastes.  The  stead- 
fast earth  gaped  to  devour  the  apostate  sons  of  Israel, 
but  the  termination  of  this  wretched  man's  existence  has 
been,  as  far  as  can  now  be  known,  by  the  direct  means 
of  an  evil  spirit,  whom  his  own  arts  had  evoked  into  the 
upper  air.  By  the  spirit,  as  would  appear  by  the  testi- 
mony of  a  noble  lady  and  other  females,  who  witnessed 
the  termination  of  his  life,  Agelastes  was  strangled,  a 
fate  well  becoming  his  odious  crimes.  Such  a  death,  even 
of  a  guilty  man,  must,  indeed,  be  most  painful  to  the 
humane  feelings  of  the  Emperor,  because  it  involves  suf- 
fering beyond  this  world.  But  the  awful  catastrophe 
carries  with  it  this  comfort,  that  it  absolves  the  Emperor 
from  the  necessity  of  carrying  any  further  a  vengeance 
which  Heaven  itself  seems  to  have  limited  to  the  exem- 
plary punishment  of  the  principal  conspirator.  Some 
changes  of  offices  and  situations  shall  be  made,  for  the 
sake  of  safety  and  good  order;  but  the  secret  who  had  or 
who  had  not  been  concerned  in  this  awful  crime  shall 
sleep  in  the  bosoms  of  the  persons  themselves  implicated, 
since  the  Emperor  is  determined  to  dismiss  their  offence 
from  his  memory,  as  the  effect  of  a  transient  delusion. 
Let  all,  therefore,  who  now  hear  me,  whatever  conscious- 
ness they  may  possess  of  a  knowledge  of  what  was  this 
day  intended,  return  to  their  houses,  assured  that  their 
own  thoughts  will  be  their  only  punishment.  Let  them 

152 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

rejoice  that  Almighty  goodness  has  saved  them  from  the 
meditations  of  their  own  hearts,  and,  according  to  the 
affecting  language  of  Scripture,  "Let  them  repent  and 
sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing  befall  them.'" 

The  voice  of  the  herald  then  ceased,  and  was  again 
answered  by  the  shouts  of  the  audience.  These  were 
unanimous;  for  circumstances  contributed  to  convince 
the  malcontent  party  that  they  stood  at  the  sovereign's 
mercy,  and  the  edict  that  they  heard  having  shown  his 
acquaintance  with  their  guilt,  it  lay  at  his  pleasure  to 
let  loose  upon  them  the  strength  of  the  Varangians, 
while,  from  the  terms  on  which  it  had  pleased  him  to  re- 
ceive Tancred,  it  was  probable  that  the  Apulian  forces 
were  also  at  his  disposal. 

The  voices,  therefore,  of  the  bulky  Stephanos,  of  Har- 
pax  the  centurion,  and  other  rebels,  both  of  the  camp 
and  city,  were  the  first  to  thunder  forth  their  gratitude 
for  the  clemency  of  the  Emperor,  and  their  thanks  to 
Heaven  for  his  preservation. 

The  audience,  reconciled  to  the  thoughts  of  the  discov- 
ered and  frustrated  conspiracy,  began  meantime,  accord- 
ing to  their  custom,  to  turn  themselves  to  the  consider- 
ation of  the  matter  which  had  more  avowedly  called 
them  together,  and  private  whispers,  swelling  by  degrees 
into  murmurs,  began  to  express  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
citizens  at  being  thus  long  assembled,  without  receiving 
any  communication  respecting  the  announced  purpose  of 
their  meeting. 

Alexius  was  not  slow  to  perceive  the  tendency  of  their 
thoughts;  and,  on  a  signal  from  his  hand,  the  trumpets 
blew  a  point  of  war,  in  sounds  far  more  lively  than  those 
which  had  prefaced  the  imperial  edict.   'Robert  Count 

153 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

of  Paris/  then  said  a  herald,  'art  thou  here  in  thy  place, 
or  by  knightly  proxy,  to  answer  the  challenge  brought 
against  thee  by  his  Imperial  Highness  Nicephorus  Brien- 
nius,  Caesar  of  this  empire?' 

The  Emperor  conceived  himself  to  have  equally  pro- 
vided against  the  actual  appearance  at  this  call  of  either 
of  the  parties  named,  and  had  prepared  an  exhibition  of 
another  kind,  namely,  certain  cages,  tenanted  by  wild 
animals,  which,  being  now  loosened,  should  do  their 
pleasure  with  each  other  in  the  eyes  of  the  assembly. 
His  astonishment  and  confusion,  therefore,  were  great 
when,  as  the  last  note  of  the  proclamation  died  in  the 
echo.  Count  Robert  of  Paris  stood  forth,  armed  cap-a-pie^ 
his  mailed  charger  led  behind  him  from  within  the  cur- 
tained inclosure,  at  one  end  of  the  lists,  as  if  ready  to 
mount  at  the  signal  of  the  marshal. 

The  alarm  and  the  shame  that  were  visible  in  every 
countenance  near  the  imperial  presence,  when  no  Caesar 
came  forth  in  Hke  fashion  to  confront  the  formidable 
Frank,  were  not  of  long  duration.  Hardly  had  the  style 
and  title  of  the  Count  of  Paris  been  duly  announced  by 
the  heralds,  and  their  second  summons  of  his  antagonist 
uttered  in  due  form,  when  a  person,  dressed  like  one  of 
the  Varangian  Guards,  sprung  into  the  lists,  and  an- 
nounced himself  as  ready  to  do  battle  in  the  name  and 
place  of  the  Caesar  Nicephorus  Briennius,  and  for  the 
honour  of  the  empire. 

Alexius,  with  the  utmost  joy,  beheld  this  unexpected 
assistance,  and  readily  gave  his  consent  to  the  bold 
soldier  who  stood  thus  forward  in  the  hour  of  utmost 
need  to  take  upon  himself  the  dangerous  office  of  cham- 
pion. He  the  more  readily  acquiesced  as,  from  the  size 

154 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

and  appearance  of  the  soldier,  and  the  gallant  bearing 
he  displayed,  he  had  no  doubt  of  his  individual  person, 
and  fully  confided  in  his  valour. 

But  Prince  Tancred  interposed  his  opposition.  'The 
lists,'  he  said,  'were  only  open  to  knights  and  nobles;  or, 
at  any  rate,  men  were  not  permitted  to  meet  therein 
who  were  not  of  some  equality  of  birth  and  blood;  nor 
could  he  remain  a  silent  witness  where  the  laws  of  chiv- 
alry were  in  such  respects  forgotten.' 

'Let  Count  Robert  of  Paris,'  said  the  Varangian, 
'look  upon  my  countenance,  and  say  whether  he  has  not, 
by  promise,  removed  all  objection  to  our  contest  which 
might  be  founded  upon  an  inequality  of  condition,  and 
let  him  be  judge  himself  whether,  by  meeting  me  in  this 
field,  he  will  do  more  than  comply  with  a  compact  which 
he  has  long  since  become  bound  by.' 

Count  Robert,  upon  this  appeal,  advanced  and  ac- 
knowledged, without  further  debate,  that,  notwith- 
standing their  difference  of  rank,  he  held  himself  bound 
by  his  solemn  word  to  give  this  valiant  soldier  a  meeting 
in  the  field;  that  he  regretted,  on  account  of  this  gallant 
man's  eminent  virtues,  and  the  high  services  he  had 
received  at  his  hands,  that  they  should  now  stand  upon 
terms  of  such  bloody  arbitration ;  but,  since  nothing  was 
more  common  than  that  the  fate  of  war  called  on  friends 
to  meet  each  other  in  mortal  combat,  he  would  not 
shrink  from  the  engagement  he  had  pledged  himself  to ; 
nor  did  he  think  his  quality  in  the  slightest  degree  in- 
fringed or  diminished  by  meeting  in  battle  a  warrior  so 
well  known  and  of  such  good  account  as  Hereward,  the 
brave  Varangian.  He  added,  that  *  he  willingly  admitted 
that  the  combat  should  take  place  on  foot,  and  with  the 

155 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

battle-axe,  which  was  the  ordinary  weapon  of  the  Va- 
rangian guard.' 

Hereward  had  stood  still,  almost  like  a  statue,  while 
this  discourse  passed ;  but  when  the  Count  of  Paris  had 
made  this  speech,  he  inclined  himself  towards  him  with 
a  graceful  obeisance,  and  expressed  himself  honoured 
and  gratified  by  the  manly  manner  in  which  the  Count 
acquitted  himself,  according  to  his  promise,  with  com- 
plete honour  and  fidelity. 

*What  we  are  to  do,'  said  Count  Robert,  with  a  sigh 
of  regret,  which  even  his  love  of  battle  could  not  pre- 
vent, '  let  us  do  quickly:  the  heart  may  be  affected,  but 
the  hand  must  do  its  duty.' 

Hereward  assented,  with  the  additional  remark,  'Let 
us  then  lose  no  more  time,  which  is  already  flying  fast.' 
And,  grasping  his  axe,  he  stood  prepared  for  combat. 

'I  also  am  ready,'  said  Count  Robert  of  Paris,  taking 
the  same  weapon  from  a  Varangian  soldier,  who  stood 
by  the  lists.  Both  were  immediately  upon  the  alert,  nor 
did  further  forms  or  circumstances  put  off  the  intended 
duel. 

The  first  blows  were  given  and  parried  with  great 
caution,  and  Prince  Tancred  and  others  thought  that  on 
the  part  of  Count  Robert  the  caution  was  much  greater 
than  usual;  but,  in  combat  as  in  food,  the  appetite  in- 
creases with  the  exercise.  The  fiercer  passions  began,  as 
usual,  to  awaken  with  the  clash  of  arms  and  the  sense  of 
deadly  blows,  some  of  which  were  made  with  great  fury 
on  either  side,  and  parried  with  considerable  difi&culty, 
and  not  so  completely  but  what  blood  flowed  on  both 
their  parts.  The  Greeks  looked  with  astonishment  on  a 
single  combat  such  as  they  had  seldom  witnessed,  and 

156 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

held  their  breath  as  they  beheld  the  furious  blows  dealt 
by  either  warrior,  and  expected  with  each  stroke  the 
annihilation  of  one  or  other  of  the  combatants.  As  yet 
their  strength  and  agility  seemed  somewhat  equally 
matched,  although  those  who  judged  with  more  preten- 
sion to  knowledge  were  of  opinion  that  Count  Robert 
spared  putting  forth  some  part  of  the  mihtary  skill  for 
which  he  was  celebrated;  and  the  remark  was  generally 
made  and  allowed  that  he  had  surrendered  a  great 
advantage  by  not  insisting  upon  his  right  to  fight  upon 
horseback.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  general  opin- 
ion that  the  gallant  Varangian  omitted  to  take  advan- 
tage of  one  or  two  opportunities  afforded  him  by  the 
heat  of  Count  Robert's  temper,  who  obviously  was 
incensed  at  the  duration  of  the  combat. 

Accident  at  length  seemed  about  to  decide  what  had 
been  hitherto  an  equal  contest.  Count  Robert,  making  a 
feint  on  one  side  of  his  antagonist,  struck  him  on  the 
other,  which  was  uncovered,  with  the  edge  of  his  wea- 
pon, so  that  the  Varangian  reeled,  and  seemed  in  the  act 
of  faUing  to  the  earth.  The  usual  sound  made  by  spec- 
tators at  the  sight  of  any  painful  or  unpleasant  circum- 
stance, by  drawing  the  breath  between  the  teeth,  was 
suddenly  heard  to  pass  through  the  assembly,  while  a 
female  voice  loud  and  eagerly  exclaimed  —  *  Count 
Robert  of  Paris,  forget  not  this  day  that  thou  owest  a 
hfe  to  Heaven  and  me.'  The  Count  was  in  the  act  of 
again  seconding  his  blow,  with  what  effect  could  hardly 
be  judged,  when  this  cry  reached  his  cars,  and  appar- 
ently took  away  his  disposition  for  further  combat. 

'I  acknowledge  the  debt,'  he  said,  sinking  his  battle- 
axe,  and  retreating  two  steps  from  his  antagonist,  who 

157 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

stood  in  astonishment,  scarcely  recovered  from  the 
stunning  effect  of  the  blow  by  which  he  was  so  nearly 
prostrated.  He  sank  the  blade  of  his  battle-axe  in  imi- 
tation of  his  antagonist,  and  seemed  to  wait  in  suspense 
what  was  to  be  the  next  process  of  the  combat.  'I 
acknowledge  my  debt,'  said  the  valiant  Count  of  Paris, 
'alike  to  Bertha  of  Britain  and  to  the  Almighty,  who 
has  preserved  me  from  the  crime  of  ungrateful  blood- 
guiltiness.  You  have  seen  the  fight,  gentlemen,'  turning 
to  Tancred  and  his  chivalry,  'and  can  testify,  on  your 
honour,  that  it  has  been  maintained  fairly  on  both  sides, 
and  without  advantage  on  either.  I  presume  my  honour- 
able antagonist  has  by  this  time  satisfied  the  desire 
which  brought  me  under  his  challenge,  and  which  cer- 
tainly had  no  taste  in  it  of  personal  or  private  quarrel. 
On  my  part,  I  retain  towards  him  such  a  sense  of  per- 
sonal obligation  as  would  render  my  continuing  this 
combat,  unless  compelled  to  it  by  self-defence,  a  shame- 
ful and  sinful  action.' 

Alexius  gladly  embraced  the  terms  of  truce,  which  he 
was  far  from  expecting,  and  threw  down  his  warder,  in 
signal  that  the  duel  was  ended.  Tancred,  though  some- 
what surprised,  and  perhaps  even  scandalised,  that  a 
private  soldier  of  the  Emperor's  guard  should  have  so 
long  resisted  the  utmost  efforts  of  so  approved  a  knight, 
could  not  but  own  that  the  combat  had  been  fought  with 
perfect  fairness  and  equality,  and  decided  upon  terms 
dishonourable  to  neither  party.  The  Count's  character 
being  well  known  and  established  amongst  the  crusaders, 
they  were  compelled  to  believe  that  some  motive  of  a 
most  potent  nature  formed  the  principle  upon  which, 
very  contrary  to  his  general  practice,  he  had  proposed  a 

iS8 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

cessation  of  the  combat  before  it  was  brought  to  a 
deadly,  or  at  least  to  a  decisive,  conclusion.  The  edict  of 
the  Emperor  upon  the  occasion,  therefore,  passed  into  a 
law,  acknowledged  by  the  assent  of  the  chiefs  present, 
and  especially  affirmed  and  gratulated  by  the  shouts  of 
the  assembled  spectators. 

But  perhaps  the  most  interesting  figure  in  the  assem- 
bly was  that  of  the  bold  Varangian,  arrived  so  suddenly 
at  a  promotion  of  military  renown  which  the  extreme 
difficulty  he  had  experienced  in  keeping  his  ground 
against  Count  Robert  had  prevented  him  from  antici- 
pating, although  his  modesty  had  not  diminished  the 
indomitable  courage  with  which  he  maintained  the  con- 
test. He  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  lists,  his  face  ruddy 
with  the  exertion  of  the  combat,  and  not  less  so  from  the 
modest  consciousness  proper  to  the  plainness  and  sim- 
plicity of  his  character,  which  was  disconcerted  by  find- 
ing himself  the  central  point  of  the  gaze  of  the  multitude. 

*  Speak  to  me,  my  soldier,'  said  Alexius,  strongly 
affected  by  the  gratitude  which  he  felt  was  due  to  Here- 
ward  upon  so  singular  an  occasion  —  *  speak  to  thine 
Emperor  as  his  superior,  for  such  thou  art  at  this  mo- 
ment, and  tell  him  if  there  is  any  manner,  even  at  the 
expense  of  half  his  kingdom,  to  atone  for  his  own  life 
saved,  and,  what  is  yet  dearer,  for  the  honour  of  his 
country,  which  thou  hast  so  manfully  defended  and 
preserved? ' 

*My  lord,'  answered  Hereward,  'your  Imperial  High- 
ness values  my  poor  services  over  highly,  and  ought  to 
attribute  them  to  the  noble  Count  of  Paris  —  first,  for 
his  condescending  to  accept  of  an  antagonist  so  mean  in 
quality  as  myself;  and  next,  in  generously  relinquishing 

159 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

victory  when  he  might  have  achieved  it  by  an  additional 
blow ;  for  I  here  confess  before  your  Majesty,  my  breth- 
ren, and  the  assembled  Grecians,  that  my  power  of  pro- 
tracting the  combat  was  ended  when  the  gallant  Count, 
by  his  generosity,  put  a  stop  to  it.' 

'Do  not  thyself  that  wrong,  brave  man,'  said  Count 
Robert;  'for  I  vow  to  Our  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances 
that  the  combat  was  yet  within  the  undetermined  doom 
of  Providence  when  the  pressure  of  my  own  feelings 
rendered  me  incapable  of  continuing  it,  to  the  necessary 
harm,  perhaps  to  the  mortal  damage,  of  an  antagonist 
to  whom  I  owe  so  much  kindness.  Choose,  therefore, 
the  recompense  which  the  generosity  of  thy  Emperor 
offers  in  a  manner  so  just  and  grateful,  and  fear  not  lest 
mortal  voice  pronounces  that  reward  unmerited  which 
Robert  of  Paris  shall  avouch  with  his  sword  to  have 
been  gallantly  won  upon  his  own  crest.' 

'You  are  too  great,  my  lord,  and  too  noble,'  answered 
the  Anglo-Saxon,  'to  be  gainsaid  by  such  as  I  am,  and  I 
must  not  awaken  new  strife  between  us  by  contesting 
the  circumstances  under  which  our  combat  so  suddenly 
closed,  nor  would  it  be  wise  or  prudent  in  me  further  to 
contradict  you.  My  noble  Emperor  generously  offers 
me  the  right  of  naming  what  he  calls  my  recompense; 
but  let  not  his  generosity  be  dispraised,  although  it  is 
from  you,  my  lord,  and  not  from  his  Imperial  Highness, 
that  I  am  to  ask  a  boon,  to  me  the  dearest  to  which  my 
voice  can  give  utterance.' 

'And  that,'  said  the  Count,  'has  reference  to  Bertha, 
the  faithful  attendant  of  my  wife? ' 

'Even  so,'  said  Here  ward;  'it  is  my  proposal  to  re- 
quest my  discharge  from  the  Varangian  Guard,  and 

1 60 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

permission  to  share  in  your  lordship's  pious  and  hon- 
ourable vow  for  the  recovery  of  Palestine,  with  liberty 
to  fight  under  your  honoured  banner,  and  permission 
from  time  to  time  to  recommend  my  love-suit  to  Bertha, 
the  attendant  of  the  Countess  of  Paris,  in  the  hope  that 
it  may  find  favour  in  the  eyes  of  her  noble  lord  and  lady. 
I  may  thus  finally  hope  to  be  restored  to  a  country  which 
I  have  never  ceased  to  love  over  the  rest  of  the  world.' 

*  Thy  service,  noble  soldier,'  said  the  Count, '  shall  be  as 
acceptable  to  me  as  that  of  a  born  earl ;  nor  is  there  an 
opportunity  of  acquiring  honour  which  I  can  shape  for 
thee  to  which,  as  it  occurs,  I  will  not  gladly  prefer  thee. 
I  will  not  boast  of  what  interest  I  have  with  the  King  of 
England,  but  something  I  can  do  with  him,  and  it  shall 
be  strained  to  the  uttermost  to  settle  thee  in  thine  own 
beloved  native  country.' 

The  Emperor  then  spoke.  *  Bear  witness,  heaven  and 
earth,  and  you  my  faithful  subjects,  and  you  my  gal- 
lant allies  —  above  all,  you  my  bold  and  true  Varangian 
Guard,  that  we  would  rather  have  lost  the  brightest 
jewel  from  our  imperial  crown  than  have  relinquished 
the  service  of  this  true  and  faithful  Anglo-Saxon.  But 
since  go  he  must  and  will,  it  shall  be  my  study  to  distin- 
guish him  by  such  marks  of  beneficence  as  may  make  it 
known  through  his  future  life  that  he  is  the  person  to 
whom  the  Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  acknowledged  a 
debt  larger  than  his  empire  could  discharge.  You,  my 
Lord  Tancred,  and  your  principal  leaders,  will  sup  with 
us  this  evening,  and  to-morrow  resume  your  honourable 
and  religious  purpose  of  pilgrimage.  We  trust  both  the 
combatants  will  also  oblige  us  by  their  presence.  Trum- 
pets, give  the  signal  for  dismission.' 
44  i6i 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  trumpets  sounded  accordingly,  and  the  different 
classes  of  spectators,  armed  and  unarmed,  broke  up 
into  various  parties,  or  formed  into  their  military  ranks, 
for  the  purpose  of  their  return  to  the  city. 

The  screams  of  women,  suddenly  and  strangely 
raised,  was  the  first  thing  that  arrested  the  departure 
of  the  multitude,  when  those  who  glanced  their  eyes 
back  saw  Sylvan,  the  great  ourang-outang,  produce 
himself  in  the  lists,  to  their  surprise  and  astonishment. 
The  women,  and  many  of  the  men  who  were  present, 
unaccustomed  to  the  ghastly  look  and  savage  appear- 
ance of  a  creature  so  extraordinary,  raised  a  yell  of  terror 
so  loud  that  it  discomposed  the  animal  who  was  the 
occasion  of  its  being  raised.  Sylvan,  in  the  course  of  the 
night,  having  escaped  over  the  garden-wall  of  Agelastes, 
and  clambered  over  the  rampart  of  the  city,  found  no 
difl&culty  in  hiding  himself  in  the  lists  which  were  in  the 
act  of  being  raised,  having  found  a  lurking-place  in  some 
dark  corner  under  the  seats  of  the  spectators.  From  this 
he  was  probably  dislodged  by  the  tumult  of  the  dispers- 
ing multitude,  and  had  been  compelled,  therefore,  to 
make  an  appearance  in  public  when  he  least  desired  it, 
not  unlike  that  of  the  celebrated  Puliccinello,  at  the 
conclusion  of  his  own  drama,  when  he  enters  in  mortal 
strife  -with  the  Foul  Fiend  himself  —  a  scene  which 
scarcely  excites  more  terror  among  the  juvenile  audience 
than  did  the  unexpected  apparition  of  Sylvan  among  the 
spectators  of  the  duel.  Bows  were  bent  and  javelins 
pointed  by  the  braver  part  of  the  soldiery  against  an 
animal  of  an  appearance  so  ambiguous,  and  whom  his 
uncommon  size  and  grizzly  look  caused  most  who  beheld 
him  to  suppose  either  the  Devil  himself  or  the  apparition 

162 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

of  some  fiendish  deity  of  ancient  days  whom  the  hea- 
thens worshipped.  Sylvan  had  so  far  improved  such 
opportunities  as  had  been  afforded  him  as  to  become  suf- 
ficiently aware  that  the  attitudes  assumed  by  so  many 
military  men  inferred  immediate  danger  to  his  person, 
from  which  he  hastened  to  shelter  himself  by  fl3ang  to 
the  protection  of  Hereward,  with  whom  he  had  .been  in 
some  degree  famiHarised.  He  seized  him,  accordingly, 
by  the  cloak,  and,  by  the  absurd  and  alarmed  look  of  his 
fantastic  features,  and  a  certain  wild  and  gibbering 
chatter,  endeavoured  to  express  his  fear  and  to  ask  pro- 
tection. Hereward  understood  the  terrified  creature, 
and,  turning  to  the  Emperor's  throne,  said  aloud  — 
'Poor  frightened  being,  turn  thy  petition,  and  gestures, 
and  tones  to  a  quarter  which,  having  to-day  pardoned 
so  many  offences  which  were  wilfully  and  maliciously 
schemed,  will  not  be,  I  am  sure,  obdurate  to  such  as 
thou,  in  thy  half-reasoning  capacity,  mayst  have  been 
capable  of  committing.' 

The  creature,  as  is  the  nature  of  its  tribe,  caught  from 
Hereward  himself  the  mode  of  applying  with  most  effect 
his  gestures  and  pitiable  supplication,  while  the  Emperor, 
notwithstanding  the  serious  scene  which  had  just  passed, 
could  not  help  laughing  at  the  touch  of  comedy  flung  into 
it  by  this  last  incident. 

*My  trusty  Hereward,'  he  said,  (aside  —  'I  will  not 
again  call  him  Edward  if  I  can  help  it)  —  thou  art  the 
refuge  of  the  distressed,  whether  it  be  man  or  beast,  and 
nothing  that  sues  through  thy  intercession,  while  thou 
remainest  in  our  service,  shall  find  its  supplication  in 
vain.  Do  thou,  good  Hereward,'  for  the  name  was  now 
pretty  well  established  in  his  imperial  memory,  'and 

163 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

such  of  thy  companions  as  know  the  habits  of  the  crea- 
ture, lead  him  back  to  his  old  quarters  in  the  Blacquernal ; 
and  that  done,  my  friend,  observe  that  we  request  thy 
company,  and  that  of  thy  faithful  mate  Bertha,  to  par- 
take supper  at  our  court  with  our  wife  and  daughter,  and 
such  of  our  servants  and  allies  as  we  shall  request  to 
share  the  same  honour.  Be  assured  that,  while  thou 
remainest  with  us,  there  is  no  point  of  dignity  which  shall 
not  be  willingly  paid  to  thee.  And  do  thou  approach, 
Achilles  Tatius,  as  much  favoured  by  thine  emperor  as 
before  this  day  dawned.  What  charges  are  against  thee 
have  been  only  whispered  in  a  friendly  ear  which  remem- 
bers them  not,  unless — which  Heaven  forefend!  —  their 
remembrance  is  renewed  by  fresh  offences.' 

Achilles  Tatius  bowed  till  the  plume  of  his  helmet 
mingled  with  the  mane  of  his  fiery  horse,  but  held  it 
wisest  to  forbear  any  answer  in  words,  leaving  his  crime 
and  his  pardon  to  stand  upon  those  general  terms  in 
which  the  Emperor  had  expressed  them. 

Once  more  the  multitude  of  all  ranks  returned  on  their 
way  to  the  city,  nor  did  any  second  interruption  arrest 
their  march.  Sylvan,  accompanied  by  one  or  two  Varan- 
gians, who  led  him  in  a  sort  of  captivity,  took  his  way 
to  the  vaults  of  the  Blacquernal,  which  were  in  fact  his 
proper  habitation. 

Upon  the  road  to  the  city,  Harpax,  the  notorious  cor- 
poral of  the  Immortal  Guards,  held  a  discourse  with  one 
or  two  of  his  own  soldiers,  and  of  the  citizens  who  had 
been  members  of  the  late  conspiracy. 

*So,'  said  Stephanos,  the  prize-fighter,  *a  fine  affair 
we  have  made  of  it,  to  suffer  ourselves  to  be  all  antici- 
pated and  betrayed  by  a  thick-skulled  Varangian;  every 

164 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

chance  turning  against  us  as  they  would  against  Cory- 
don,  the  shoemaker,  if  he  were  to  defy  me  to  the  circus. 
Ursel,  whose  death  made  so  much  work,  turns  out  not  to 
be  dead  after  all;  and,  what  is  worse,  he  lives  not  to  our 
advantage.  This  fellow  Hereward,  who  was  yesterday 
no  better  than  myself  —  what  do  I  say?  better!  he  was 
a  great  deal  worse,  an  insignificant  nobody  in  every 
respect  —  is  now  crammed  with  honours,  praises,  and 
gifts,  till  he  well-nigh  returns  what  they  have  given  him, 
and  the  Caesar  and  the  Acolyte,  our  associates,  have  lost 
the  Emperor's  love  and  confidence,  and  if  they  are 
suffered  to  survive,  it  must  be  like  the  tame  domestic 
poultry,  whom  we  pamper  with  food  one  day,  that 
upon  the  next  their  necks  may  be  twisted  for  spit  or 
pot.' 

'Stephanos,'  replied  the  centurion,  'thy  form  of  body 
fits  thee  well  for  the  palestra,  but  thy  mind  is  not  so 
acutely  formed  as  to  detect  that  which  is  real  from  that 
which  is  only  probable  in  the  political  world,  of  which 
thou  art  now  judging.  Considering  the  risk  incurred 
by  lending  a  man's  ear  to  a  conspiracy,  thou  oughtest  to 
reckon  it  a  saving  in  every  particular  where  he  escapes 
with  his  life  and  character  safe.  This  has  been  the  case 
with  Achilles  Tatius  and  with  the  Caisar.  They  have  re- 
mained also  in  their  high  places  of  trust  and  power,  and 
may  be  confident  that  the  Emperor  will  hardly  dare  to 
remove  them  at  a  future  period,  since  the  possession  of 
the  full  knowledge  of  their  guilt  has  not  emboldened  him 
to  do  so.  Their  power,  thus  left  with  them,  is  in  fact  ours ; 
nor  is  there  a  circumstance  to  be  supposed  which  can  in- 
duce them  to  betray  their  confederates  to  the  govern- 
ment. It  is  much  more  likely  that  they  will  remember 

165 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

them  with  the  probability  of  renewing,  at  a  fitter  time, 
the  aUiance  which  binds  them  together.  Cheer  up  thy 
noble  resolution,  therefore,  my  prince  of  the  circus,  and 
think  that  thou  shalt  still  retain  that  predominant  influ- 
ence which  the  favourites  of  the  amphitheatre  are  sure 
to  possess  over  the  citizens  of  Constantinople.' 

*I  cannot  tell,'  answered  Stephanos;  'but  it  gnaws  at 
my  heart  Hke  the  worm  that  dieth  not  to  see  this  beg- 
garly foreigner  betray  the  noblest  blood  in  the  land,  not 
to  mention  the  best  athlete  in  the  palestra,  and  move  off 
not  only  without  punishment  for  his  treachery,  but  with 
praise,  honour,  and  preferment.' 

'True,'  said  Harpax;  'but  observe,  my  friend,  that  he 
does  move  off  to  purpose.  He  leaves  the  land,  quits  the 
corps  in  which  he  might  claim  preferment  and  a  few  vain 
honours,  being  valued  at  what  such  trifles  amount  to. 
Hereward,  in  the  course  of  one  or  two  days,  shall  be 
little  better  than  a  disbanded  soldier,  subsisting  by  the 
poor  bread  which  he  can  obtain  as  a  follower  of  this  beg- 
garly count,  or  which  he  is  rather  bound  to  dispute  with 
the  infidel,  by  encountering  with  his  battle-axe  the 
Turkish  sabres.  What  will  it  avail  him  amidst  the  dis- 
asters, the  slaughter,  and  the  famine  of  Palestine  that  he 
once  upon  a  time  was  admitted  to  supper  with  the  Em- 
peror? We  know  Alexius  Comnenus:  he  is  willing  to 
discharge,  at  the  highest  cost,  such  obhgations  as  are  in- 
curred to  men  like  this  Hereward;  and,  believe  me,  I 
think  that  I  see  the  wily  despot  shrug  his  shoulders  in 
derision  when  one  morning  he  is  saluted  with  the  news  of 
a  battle  in  Palestine  lost  by  the  crusaders,  in  which  his 
old  acquaintance  has  fallen  a  dead  man.  I  will  not  in- 
sult thee  by  telling  thee  how  easy  it  might  be  to  acquire 

i66 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

the  favour  of  a  gentlewoman  in  waiting  upon  a  lady  of 
quality;  nor  do  I  think  it  would  be  difficult,  should  that 
be  the  object  of  the  prize-fighter,  to  acquire  the  property 
of  a  large  baboon  like  Sylvan,  which  no  doubt  would  set 
up  as  a  juggler  any  Frank  who  had  meanness  of  spirit  to 
propose  to  gain  his  bread  in  such  a  capacity  from  the 
alms  of  the  starving  chivalry  of  Europe.  But  he  who  can 
stoop  to  envy  the  lot  of  such  a  person  ought  not  to  be 
one  whose  chief  personal  distinctions  are  sufficient  to 
place  him  first  in  rank  over  all  the  favourites  of  the 
amphitheatre.' 

There  was  something  in  this  sophistical  kind  of  reason- 
ing which  was  but  half -satisfactory  to  the  obtuse  intel- 
lect of  the  prize-fighter,  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  al- 
though the  only  answer  which  he  attempted  was  couched 
in  this  observation  — 

*Ay,  but,  noble  centurion,  you  forget  that,  besides 
empty  honours,  this  Varangian  Hereward,  or  Edward, 
whichever  is  his  name,  is  promised  a  mighty  donative  of 
gold.'  .  ^ 

'Marry,  you  touch  me  there,'  said  the  centurion; '  and 
when  you  tell  me  that  the  promise  is  fulfilled,  I  will  will- 
ingly agree  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  hath  gained  something 
to  be  envied  for;  but  while  it  remains  in  the  shape  of 
a  naked  promise,  you  shall  pardon  me,  my  worthy 
Stephanos,  if  I  hold  it  of  no  more  account  than  the 
mere  pledges  which  are  distributed  among  ourselves  as 
well  as  to  the  Varangians,  promising  upon  future  occa- 
sions mints  of  money,  which  we  are  likely  to  receive  at 
the  same  time  with  the  last  year's  snow.  Keep  up  your 
heart,  therefore,  noble  Stephanos,  and  believe  not  that 
your  affairs  are  worse  for  the  miscarriage  of  this  day ;  and 

167 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

let  not  thy  gallant  courage  sink,  but,  remembering  those 
principles  upon  which  it  was  called  into  action,  believe 
that  thy  objects  are  not  the  less  secure  because  fate  has 
removed  their  acquisition  to  a  more  distant  day.'  The 
veteran  and  unbending  conspirator,  Harpax,  thus 
strengthened  for  some  future  renewal  of  their  enterprise 
the  failing  spirits  of  Stephanos. 

After  this,  such  leaders  as  were  included  in  the  invi- 
tation given  by  the  Emperor  repaired  to  the  evening 
meal,  and,  from  the  general  content  and  complaisance 
expressed  by  Alexius  and  his  guests  of  every  description, 
it  could  little  have  been  supposed  that  the  day  just 
passed  over  was  one  which  had  inferred  a  purpose  so 
dangerous  and  treacherous. 

The  absence  of  the  Countess  Brenhilda  during  this 
eventful  day  created  no  small  surprise  to  the  Emperor 
and  those  in  his  immediate  confidence,  who  knew  her 
enterprising  spirit,  and  the  interest  she  must  have  felt 
in  the  issue  of  the  combat.  Bertha  had  made  an  early 
communication  to  the  Count  that  his  lady,  agitated  with 
the  many  anxieties  of  the  few  preceding  days,  was  un- 
able to  leave  her  apartment.  The  valiant  knight,  there- 
fore, lost  no  time  in  acquainting  his  faithful  countess  of 
his  safety;  and  afterwards  joining  those  who  partook  of 
the  banquet  at  the  palace,  he  bore  himself  as  if  the  least 
recollection  did  not  remain  on  his  mind  of  the  perfidious 
conduct  of  the  Emperor  at  the  conclusion  of  the  last  en- 
tertainment. He  knew,  in  truth,  that  the  knights  of 
Prince  Tancred  not  only  maintained  a  strict  watch 
round  the  house  where  Brenhilda  remained,  but  also, 
that  they  preserved  a  severe  ward  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Blacquernal,  as  well  for  the  safety  of  their  heroic 

i68 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

leader  as  for  that  of  Count  Robert,  the  respected  com- 
panion of  their  military  pilgrimage. 

It  was  the  general  principle  of  the  European  chivalry 
that  distrust  was  rarely  permitted  to  survive  open  quar- 
rels, and  that  whatever  was  forgiven  was  dismissed  from 
their  recollection,  as  unlikely  to  recur;  but  on  the  present 
occasion  there  was  a  more  than  usual  assemblage  of 
troops,  which  the  occurrences  of  the  day  had  drawn  to- 
gether, so  that  the  crusaders  were  called  upon  to  be  par- 
ticularly watchful. 

It  may  be  believed  that  the  evening  passed  over  with- 
out any  attempt  to  renew  the  ceremonial  in  the  council- 
chamber  of  the  lions,  which  had  been  upon  a  former  oc- 
casion terminated  in  such  misunderstanding.  Indeed,  it 
would  have  been  lucky  if  the  explanation  between  the 
mighty  Emperor  of  Greece  and  the  chivalrous  knight  of 
Paris  had  taken  place  earlier;  for  reflection  on  what  had 
passed  had  convinced  the  Emperor  that  the  Franks  were 
not  a  people  to  be  imposed  upon  by  pieces  of  clockwork 
and  similar  trifles,  and  that  what  they  did  not  under- 
stand was  sure,  instead  of  procuring  their  awe  or  admira- 
tion, to  excite  their  anger  and  defiance.  Nor  had  it  alto- 
gether escaped  Count  Robert  that  the  manners  of  the 
Eastern  people  were  upon  a  different  scale  from  those  to 
which  he  had  been  accustomed ;  that  they  neither  were  so 
deeply  affected  by  the  spirit  of  chivalry  nor,  in  his  own 
language,  was  the  worship  of  the  Lady  of  the  Broken 
Lances  so  congenial  a  subject  of  adoration.  This  not- 
withstanding, Count  Robert  observed  that  Alexius  Com- 
nenus  was  a  wise  and  politic  prince;  his  wisdom  perhaps 
too  much  allied  to  cunning,  but  yet  aiding  him  to  main- 
tain with  great  address  that  empire  over  the  minds  of 

169 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

his  subjects  which  was  necessary  for  their  good,  and  for 
maintaining  his  own  authority.  He  therefore  resolved 
to  receive  with  equanimity  whatever  should  be  offered 
by  the  Emperor,  either  in  civility  or  in  the  way  of  jest, 
and  not  again  to  disturb  an  understanding  which  might 
be  of  advantage  to  Christendom,  by  a  quarrel  founded 
upon  misconception  of  terms  or  misapprehension  of 
manners.  To  this  prudent  resolution  the  Count  of  Paris 
adhered  during  the  whole  evening;  with  some  difficulty, 
however,  since  it  was  somewhat  inconsistent  with  his 
own  fiery  and  inquisitive  temper,  which  was  equally 
desirous  to  know  the  precise  amount  of  whatever  was 
addressed  to  him,  and  to  take  umbrage  at  it,  should  it 
appear  in  the  least  degree  offensive,  whether  so  intended 
or  not. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

It  was  not  until  after  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  that 
Count  Robert  of  Paris  returned  to  Constantinople,  and, 
with  his  wife,  and  such  proportion  of  his  followers  as  the 
sword  and  pestilence  had  left  after  that  bloody  warfare, 
resumed  his  course  to  his  native  kingdom.  Upon  reach- 
ing Italy,  the  first  care  of  the  noble  count  and  countess 
was  to  celebrate  in  princely  style  the  marriage  of  Here- 
ward  and  his  faithful  Bertha,  who  had  added  to  their 
other  claims  upon  their  master  and  mistress  those  ac- 
quired by  Hereward's  faithful  services  in  Palestine,  and 
no  less  by  Bertha's  affectionate  ministry  to  her  lady  in 
Constantinople. 

As  to  the  fate  of  Alexius  Comnenus,  it  may  be  read  at 
large  in  the  history  of  his  daughter  Anna,  who  has  re- 
presented him  as  the  hero  of  many  a  victory,  achieved, 
says  the  purple-born,  in  the  third  chapter  and  fifteenth 
book  of  her  history,  sometimes  by  his  arms  and  some- 
times by  his  prudence.  'His  boldness  alone  has  gained 
some  battles;  at  other  times  his  success  has  been  won 
by  stratagem.  He  has  erected  the  most  illustrious  of  his 
trophies  by  confronting  danger,  by  combating  like  a 
simple  soldier,  and  throwing  himself  bareheaded  into 
the  thickest  of  the  foe.  But  there  are  others,'  continues 
the  accomplished  lady,  *  which  he  gained  an  opportunity 
of  erecting  by  assuming  the  appearance  of  terror,  and 
even  of  retreat.  In  a  word,  he  knew  alike  how  to  triumph, 
either  in  flight  or  in  pursuit,  and  remained  upright  even 

171 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

before  those  enemies  who  appeared  to  have  struck  him 
down;  resembling  the  military  implement  termed  the 
calthrop,  which  remains  always  upright  in  whatever 
direction  it  is  thrown  on  the  ground.' 

It  would  be  unjust  to  deprive  the  Princess  of  the  de- 
fence she  herself  makes  against  the  obvious  charge  of 
partiality. 

*  I  must  still  once  more  repel  the  reproach  which  some 
bring  against  me,  as  if  my  history  was  composed  merely 
according  to  the  dictates  of  the  natural  love  for  parents 
which  is  engraved  in  the  hearts  of  children.  In  truth,  it 
is  not  the  effect  of  that  affection  which  I  bear  to  mine, 
but  it  is  the  evidence  of  matter  of  fact,  which  obliges  me 
to  speak  as  I  have  done.  Is  it  not  possible  that  one  can 
have  at  the  same  time  an  affection  for  the  memory  of  a 
father  and  for  truth?  For  myself,  I  have  never  directed 
my  attempt  to  write  history  otherwise  than  for  the  ascer- 
tainment of  the  matter  of  fact.  With  this  purpose,  I 
have  taken  for  my  subject  the  history  of  a  worthy  man. 
Is  it  just  that,  by  the  single  accident  of  his  being  the 
author  of  my  birth,  his  quality  of  my  father  ought  to  form 
a  prejudice  against  me  which  would  ruin  my  credit  with 
my  readers?  I  have  given,  upon  other  occasions,  proofs 
sufficiently  strong  of  the  ardour  which  I  had  for  the  de- 
fence of  my  father's  interests,  which  those  that  know  me 
can  never  doubt;  but,  on  the  present,  I  have  been  Hmited 
by  the  inviolable  fidelity  with  which  I  respect  the  truth, 
which  I  should  have  felt  conscience  to  have  veiled,  under 
pretence  of  serving  the  renown  of  my  father.'^ 

This  much  we  have  deemed  it  our  duty  to  quote,  in 
justice  to  the  fair  historian;  we  will  extract  also  her  de- 

*  Alexiad,  chap,  iii,  book  xv. 
172 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

scrip tion  of  the  Emperor's  death,  and  are  not  unwilling 
to  allow  that  the  character  assigned  to  the  Princess  by 
our  own  Gibbon  has  in  it  a  great  deal  of  fairness  and  of 
truth. 

Notwithstanding  her  repeated  protests  of  sacrificing 
rather  to  the  exact  and  absolute  truth  than  to  the  mem- 
ory of  her  deceased  parent,  Gibbon  remarks  truly  that, 
'  instead  of  the  simplicity  of  style  and  narrative  which 
wins  our  belief,  an  elaborate  affectation  of  rhetoric  and 
science  betrays  in  every  page  the  vanity  of  a  female 
author.  The  genuine  character  of  Alexius  is  lost  in  a 
vague  constellation  of  virtues;  and  the  perpetual  strain 
of  panegyric  and  apology  awakens  our  jealousy  to  ques- 
tion the  veracity  of  the  historian  and  the  merit  of  the 
hero.  We  cannot,  however,  refuse  her  judicious  and  im- 
portant remark,  that  the  disorders  of  the  times  were  the 
misfortune  and  the  glory  of  Alexius;  and  that  every  ca- 
lamity which  can  afflict  a  decHning  empire  was  accumu- 
lated on  his  reign  by  the  justice  of  Heaven  and  the  vices 
of  his  predecessors.'  ^ 

The  Princess  accordingly  feels  the  utmost  assurance 
that  a  number  of  signs  which  appeared  in  heaven  and 
on  earth  were  interpreted  by  the  soothsayers  of  the  day 
as  foreboding  the  death  of  the  Emperor.  By  these  means, 
Anna  Comnena  assigned  to  her  father  those  indications 
of  consequence  which  ancient  historians  represent  as  nec- 
essary intimations  of  the  sympathy  of  nature  with  the 
removal  of  great  characters  from  the  world;  but  she 
fails  not  to  inform  the  Christian  reader  that  her  father's 
belief  attached  to  none  of  these  prognostics,  and  that 
even  on  the  following  remarkable  occasion  he  maintained 

'■  Gibbon's  Roman  Empire,  vol.  ix,  p.  83,  footnote. 
173 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

his  incredulity:  —  A  splendid  statue,  supposed  generally 
to  be  a  relic  of  paganism,  holding  in  its  hand  a  golden 
sceptre,  and  standing  upon  a  base  of  porphyry,  was  over- 
turned by  a  tempest,  and  was  generally  believed  to  be 
an  intimation  of  the  death  of  the  Emperor.  This,  how- 
ever, he  generously  repelled.  Phidias,  he  said,  and  other 
great  sculptors  of  antiquity,  had  the  talent  of  imitating 
the  human  frame  with  surprising  accuracy;  but  to  sup- 
pose that  the  power  of  foretelling  future  events  was  re- 
posed in  these  masterpieces  of  art  would  be  to  ascribe  to 
their  makers  the  faculties  reserved  by  the  Deity  for  him- 
self, when  he  says, '  It  is  I  who  kill  and  make  alive.'  Dur- 
ing his  latter  days,  the  Emperor  was  greatly  afflicted 
with  the  gout,  the  nature  of  which  has  exercised  the  wit 
of  many  persons  of  science  as  well  as  of  Anna  Comnena. 
The  poor  patient  was  so  much  exhausted  that,  when  the 
Empress  was  talking  of  most  eloquent  persons  who 
should  assist  in  the  composition  of  his  history,  he  said, 
with  a  natural  contempt  of  such  vanities, '  The  passages 
of  my  unhappy  hfe  call  rather  for  tears  and  lamentation 
than  for  the  praises  you  speak  of.' 

A  species  of  asthma  having  come  to  the  assistance  of 
the  gout,  the  remedies  of  the  physicians  became  as  vain 
as  the  intercession  of  the  monks  and  clergy,  as  well  as 
the  alms  which  were  indiscriminately  lavished.  Two  or 
three  deep  successive  swoons  gave  ominous  warning  of 
the  approaching  blow ;  and  at  length  was  terminated  the 
reign  and  Hfe  of  Alexius  Comnenus  —  a  prince  who,  with 
all  the  faults  which  may  be  imputed  to  him,  still  pos- 
sesses a  real  right,  from  the  purity  of  his  general  inten- 
tions, to  be  accounted  one  of  the  best  sovereigns  of  the 
Lower  Empire. 

174 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

For  some  time,  the  historian  forgot  her  pride  of  liter- 
ary rank,  and,  like  an  ordinary  person,  burst  into  tears 
and  shrieks,  tore  her  hair,  and  defaced  her  countenance, 
while  the  Empress  Irene  cast  from  her  her  princely  habits, 
cut  off  her  hair,  changed  her  purple  buskins  for  black 
mourning  shoes,  and  her  daughter  Mary,  who  had  her- 
self been  a  widow,  took  a  black  robe  from  one  of  her  own 
wardrobes,  and  presented  it  to  her  mother.  'Even  in  the 
moment  when  she  put  it  on,'  says  Anna  Comnena,  'the 
Emperor  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  in  that  moment  the  sun 
of  my  life  set.' 

We  shall  not  pursue  her  lamentations  farther.  She  up- 
braids herself  that,  after  the  death  of  her  father,  that 
light  of  the  world,  she  had  also  survived  Irene,  the  de- 
light alike  of  the  East  and  of  the  West,  and  survived  her 
husband  also.  '  I  am  indignant,'  she  said,  *  that  my  soul, 
suffering  under  such  torrents  of  misfortune,  should  still 
deign  to  animate  my  body.  Have  I  not,' said  she,  'been 
more  hard  and  unfeeling  than  the  rocks  themselves;  and 
is  it  not  just  that  one  who  could  survive  such  a  father 
and  mother,  and  such  a  husband,  should  be  subjected  to 
the  influence  of  so  much  calamity?  But  let  me  finish  this 
history,  rather  than  any  longer  fatigue  my  readers  with 
my  unavailing  and  tragical  lamentation.' 

Having  thus  concluded  her  history,  she  adds  the  fol- 
lowing two  lines:  — 

The  learned  Comnena  lays  her  pen  aside, 
What  time  her  subject  and  her  father  died.^ 

These  quotations  will  probably  give  the  readers  as 
much  as  they  wish  to  know  of  the  real  character  of  this 

*  Ari^ev  onov  ^loToio  'AAef  los  6  KofjLvrjvot 
"EvBa  (taAr)  ^uyarjjp  A^fcv  'AAe^idfot. 

175 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

imperial  historian.  Fewer  words  will  suffice  to  dispose 
of  the  other  parties  who  have  been  selected  from  her 
pages,  as  persons  in  the  foregoing  drama. 

There  is  very  little  doubt  that  the  Count  Robert  of 
Paris,  whose  audacity  in  seating  himself  upon  the  throne 
of  the  Emperor  gives  a  peculiar  interest  to  his  character, 
was  in  fact  a  person  of  the  highest  rank;  being  no  other, 
as  has  been  conjectured  by  the  learned  Ducange,  than 
an  ancestor  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  which  has  so  long 
given  kings  to  France.  He  was  a  successor,  it  has  been 
conceived,  of  the  Counts  of  Paris,  by  whom  the  city  was 
vahantly  defended  against  the  Normans,  and  an  ances- 
tor of  Hugh  Capet.  There  are  several  hypotheses  upon 
this  subject,  deriving  the  well-known  Hugh  Capet,  first 
from  the  family  of  Saxony;  secondly,  from  St.  Arnoul, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Altex;  third,  from  Nibilong; 
fourth,  from  the  Duke  of  Bavaria;  and  fifth,  from  a 
natural  son  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne.  Variously 
placed,  but  in  each  of  these  contested  pedigrees,  appears 
this  Robert,  surnamed  the  Strong,  who  was  count  of 
that  district  of  which  Paris  was  the  capital,  most  pecul- 
iarly styled  the  County,  or  Isle  of  France.  Anna  Com- 
nena,  who  has  recorded  the  bold  usurpation  of  the 
Emperor's  seat  by  this  haughty  chieftain,  has  also  ac- 
quainted us  with  his  receiving  a  severe,  if  not  a  mortal, 
wound  at  the  battle  of  Dorylaeum,  owing  to  his  neglect- 
ing the  warlike  instructions  with  which  her  father  had 
favoured  him  on  the  subject  of  the  Turkish  wars.  The 
antiquary  who  is  disposed  to  investigate  this  subject  may 
consult  the  late  Lord  Ashburnham's  elaborate  '  Geneal- 
ogy of  the  Royal  House  of  France ' ;  also  a  note  of  Du- 

176 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

cange's  on  the  Princess's  history  (p.  362),  arguing  for  the 
identity  of  her  'Robert  of  Paris,  a  haughty  barbarian,' 
with  the  'Robert  called  the  Strong,'  mentioned  as  an  an- 
cestor of  Hugh  Capet.  Gibbon  (vol.  xi,  p.  52)  may  also 
be  consulted.  The  French  antiquary  and  the  English 
historian  seem  aHke  disposed  to  find  the  church  called  in 
the  tale  that  of  the  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances  in  that 
dedicated  to  St.  Drusas,  or  Drosin,  of  Soissons,  who  was 
supposed  to  have  pecuHar  influence  on  the  issue  of  com- 
bats, and  to  be  in  the  habit  of  determining  them  in  favour 
of  such  champions  as  spent  the  night  preceding  at  his 
shrine. 

In  consideration  of  the  sex  of  one  of  the  parties  con- 
cerned, the  Author  has  selected  Our  Lady  of  the  Broken 
Lances  as  a  more  appropriate  patroness  than  St.  Drusas 
himself  for  the  amazons,  who  were  not  uncommon  in 
that  age.  Gaita,  for  example,  the  wife  of  Robert  Guis- 
card,  a  redoubted  hero,  and  the  parent  of  a  most  heroic 
race  of  sons,  was  herself  an  amazon,  fought  in  the  fore- 
most ranks  of  the  Normans,  and  is  repeatedly  commem- 
orated by  our  imperial  historian,  Anna  Comnena. 

The  reader  can  easily  conceive  to  himself  that  Robert 
of  Paris  distinguished  himself  among  his  brethren-at- 
arms  and  fellow-crusaders.  His  fame  resounded  from 
the  walls  of  Antioch;  but,  at  the  battle  of  Doryla^um,  he 
was  so  desperately  wounded  as  to  be  disabled  from  tak- 
ing a  part  in  the  grandest  scene  of  the  expedition.  His 
heroic  countess,  however,  enjoyed  the  great  satisfaction 
of  mounting  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  so  far  dis- 
charging her  own  vows  and  those  of  her  husband.  This 
was  the  more  fortunate,  as  the  sentence  of  the  physi- 
cians pronounced  that  the  wounds  of  the  Count  had  been 
44  177 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

inflicted  by  a  poisoned  weapon,  and  that  complete  re- 
covery was  only  to  be  hoped  for  by  having  recourse  to 
his  native  air.  After  some  time  spent  in  the  vain  hope  of 
averting  by  patience  this  unpleasant  alternative,  Count 
Robert  subjected  himself  to  necessity,  or  what  was  rep- 
resented as  such,  and,  with  his  wife  and  the  faithful 
Hereward,  and  all  others  of  his  followers  who  had  been 
like  himself  disabled  from  combat,  took  the  way  to 
Europe  by  sea. 

A  light  galley,  procured  at  a  high  rate,  conducted 
them  safely  to  Venice,  and  from  that  then  glorious  city 
the  moderate  portion  of  spoil  which  had  fallen  to  the 
Count's  share  among  the  conquerors  of  Palestine  served 
to  convey  them  to  his  own  dominions,  which,  more  for- 
tunate than  those  of  most  of  his  fellow-pilgrims,  had 
been  left  uninjured  by  their  neighbours  during  the  time 
of  their  proprietor's  absence  on  the  Crusade.  The  report 
that  the  Count  had  lost  his  health,  and  the  power  of  con- 
tinuing his  homage  to  the  Lady  of  the  Broken  Lances, 
brought  upon  him  the  hostiUties  of  one  or  two  ambitious 
or  envious  neighbours,  whose  covetousness  was,  however, 
sufficiently  repressed  by  the  brave  resistance  of  the  Coun- 
tess and  the  resolute  Hereward.  Less  than  a  twelve- 
month was  required  to  restore  the  Count  of  Paris  to  his 
full  health,  and  to  render  him,  as  formerly,  the  assured 
protector  of  his  own  vassals  and  the  subject  in  whom  the 
possessors  of  the  French  throne  reposed  the  utmost  con- 
fidence. This  latter  capacity  enabled  Count  Robert  to 
discharge  his  debt  towards  Hereward  in  a  manner  as 
ample  as  he  could  have  hoped  or  expected.  Being  now 
respected  alike  for  his  wisdom  and  his  sagacity,  as  much 
as  he  always  was  for  his  intrepidity  and  his  character  as 

178 


COUNT  ROBERT  OF  PARIS 

a  successful  crusader,  he  was  repeatedly  employed  by 
the  court  of  France  in  settling  the  troublesome  and  intri- 
cate affairs  in  which  the  Norman  possessions  of  the  Eng- 
lish crown  involved  the  rival  nations.  William  Rufus 
was  not  insensible  to  this  merit,  nor  blind  to  the  impor- 
tance of  gaining  his  good- will ;  and  finding  out  his  anxiety 
that  Hereward  should  be  restored  to  the  land  of  his  fa- 
thers, he  took,  or  made,  an  opportunity,  by  the  forfeiture 
of  some  rebellious  noble,  of  conferring  upon  our  Varan- 
gian a  large  district  adjacent  to  the  New  Forest,  being 
part  of  the  scenes  which  his  father  chiefly  frequented, 
and  where  it  is  said  the  descendants  of  the  valiant  squire 
and  his  Bertha  have  subsisted  for  many  a  long  year,  sur- 
viving turns  of  time  and  chance,  which  are  in  general 
fatal  to  the  continuance  of  more  distinguished  families. 


CHRONICLES   OF   THE   CANON- 
GATE 

THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 


MR.    CROFTANGRY'S    PREFACE 

Indite,  my  muse,  indite, 

Subpcena'd  is  thy  lyre, 
The  praises  to  requite 

Which  rules  of  court  require. 

Probationary  Odes. 

The  concluding  a  literary  undertaking,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  is,  to  the  inexperienced  at  least,  attended  with  an 
irritating  titillation,  like  that  which  attends  on  the  heal- 
ing of  a  wound  —  a  prurient  impatience,  in  short,  to 
know  what  the  world  in  general,  and  friends  in  particu- 
lar, will  say  to  our  labours.  Some  authors,  I  am  told, 
profess  an  oyster-like  indifference  upon  this  subject;  for 
my  own  part,  I  hardly  believe  in  their  sincerity.  Others 
may  acquire  it  from  habit;  but  in  my  poor  opinion  a  neo- 
phyte like  myself  must  be  for  a  long  time  incapable  of 
such  sang  froid. 

Frankly,  I  was  ashamed  to  feel  how  childishly  I  felt 
on  the  occasion.  No  person  could  have  said  prettier 
things  than  myself  upon  the  importance  of  stoicism  con- 
cerning the  opinion  of  others,  when  their  applause  or 
censure  refers  to  literary  character  only;  and  I  had  deter- 
mined to  lay  my  work  before  the  public  with  the  same 
unconcern  with  which  the  ostrich  lays  her  eggs  in  the 
sand,  giving  herself  no  further  trouble  concerning  the 
incubation,  but  leaving  to  the  atmosphere  to  bring  forth 
the  young,  or  otherwise,  as  the  climate  shall  serve.  But, 
though  an  ostrich  in  theory,  I  became  in  practice  a  poor 
hen,  who  has  no  sooner  made  her  deposit  but  she  runs 

183 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

cackling  about,  to  call  the  attention  of  every  one  to  the 
wonderful  work  which  she  has  performed. 

As  soon  as  I  became  possessed  of  my  first  volume, 
neatly  stitched  up  and  boarded,  my  sense  of  the  neces- 
sity of  communicating  with  some  one  became  ungovern- 
able. Janet  was  inexorable,  and  seemed  already  to  have 
tired  of  my  literary  confidence ;  for  whenever  I  drew  near 
the  subject,  after  evading  it  as  long  as  she  could,  she 
made,  under  some  pretext  or  other,  a  bodily  retreat  to 
the  kitchen  or  the  cock-loft,  her  own  pecuHar  and  invio- 
late domains.  My  publisher  would  have  been  a  natural 
resource;  but  he  understands  his  business  too  well,  and 
follows  it  too  closely,  to  desire  to  enter  into  hterary  dis- 
cussions, wisely  considering  that  he  who  has  to  sell  books 
has  seldom  leisure  to  read  them.  Then  my  acquaintance, 
now  that  I  have  lost  Mrs.  Bethune  Baliol,  are  of  that 
distant  and  accidental  kind  to  whom  I  had  not  face 
enough  to  communicate  the  nature  of  my  uneasiness, 
and  who  probably  would  only  have  laughed  at  me  had  I 
made  any  attempt  to  interest  them  in  my  labours. 

Reduced  thus  to  a  sort  of  despair,  I  thought  of  my 
friend  and  man  of  business,  Mr.  Fairscribe.  His  habits, 
it  was  true,  were  not  likely  to  render  him  indulgent  to 
light  literature,  and,  indeed,  I  had  more  than  once  no- 
ticed his  daughters,  and  especially  my  little  songstress, 
whip  into  her  reticule  what  looked  very  like  a  circulating 
library  volume,  as  soon  as  her  father  entered  the  room. 
Still,  he  was  not  only  my  assured,  but  almost  my  only, 
friend,  and  I  had  httle  doubt  that  he  would  take  an 
interest  in  the  volume  for  the  sake  of  the  author  which 
the  work  itself  might  fail  to  inspire.  I  sent  him,  there- 
fore, the  book,  carefully  sealed  up,  with  an  intimation 

184 


MR.   CROFTANGRY'S  PREFACE 

that  I  requested  the  favour  of  his  opinion  upon  the  con- 
tents, of  which  I  affected  to  talk  in  the  depreciatory  style 
which  calls  for  point-blank  contradiction,  if  your  corre- 
spondent possess  a  grain  of  civility. 

This  communication  took  place  on  a  Monday,  and  I 
daily  expected  (what  I  was  ashamed  to  anticipate  by 
volunteering  my  presence,  however  sure  of  a  welcome) 
an  invitation  to  eat  an  egg,  as  was  my  friend's  favourite 
phrase,  or  a  card  to  drink  tea  with  Misses  Fairscribe, 
or  a  provocation  to  breakfast,  at  least,  with  my  hospi- 
table friend  and  benefactor  and  to  talk  over  the  contents 
of  my  inclosure.  But  the  hours  and  days  passed  on  from 
Monday  till  Saturday,  and  I  had  no  acknowledgment 
whatever  that  my  packet  had  reached  its  destination. 

'This  is  very  unlike  my  good  friend's  punctuality,' 
thought  I;  and  having  again  and  again  vexed  James, 
my  male  attendant,  by  a  close  examination  concerning 
the  time,  place,  and  delivery,  I  had  only  to  strain  my 
imagination  to  conceive  reasons  for  my  friend's  silence. 
Sometimes  I  thought  that  his  opinion  of  the  work  had 
proved  so  unfavourable,  that  he  was  averse  to  hurt  my 
feelings  by  communicating  it;  sometimes  that,  escaping 
his  hands  to  whom  it  was  destined,  it  had  found  its  way 
into  his  writing-chamber,  and  was  become  the  subject  of 
criticism  to  his  smart  clerks  and  conceited  apprentices. 
'  'Sdcath!'  thought  I,  'if  I  were  sure  of  this,  I  would — ' 

'And  what  would  you  do?'  said  Reason,  after  a  few 
moments'  reflection.  'You  are  ambitious  of  introducing 
your  book  into  every  writing  and  reading  chamber  in 
Edinburgh,  and  yet  you  take  fire  at  the  thoughts  of  its 
being  criticised  by  Mr.  Fairscribe's  young  people!  Be  a 
little  consistent,  for  shame.' 

185 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'I  will  be  consistent,'  said  I,  doggedly;  'but  for  all 
that,  I  will  call  on  Mr.  Fairscribe  this  evening.' 

I  hastened  my  dinner,  donned  my  greatcoat,  for  the 
evening  threatened  rain,  and  went  to  Mr.  Fairscribe's 
house.  The  old  domestic  opened  the  door  cautiously, 
and  before  I  asked  the  question,  said,  'Mr.  Fairscribe  is 
at  home,  sir;  but  it  is  Sunday  night.'  Recognising,  how- 
ever, my  face  and  voice,  he  opened  the  door  wider, 
admitted  me,  and  conducted  me  to  the  parlour,  where  I 
found  Mr.  Fairscribe  and  the  rest  of  his  family  engaged 
in  listening  to  a  sermon  by  the  late  Mr.  Walker  of  Edin- 
burgh,^ which  was  read  by  Miss  Catherine  with  unusual 
distinctness,  simplicity,  and  judgment.  Welcomed  as  a 
friend  of  the  house,  I  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  take  my 
seat  quietly,  and,  making  a  virtue  of  necessity,  endear 
vour  to  derive  my  share  of  the  benefit  arising  from  an 
excellent  sermon.  But  I  am  afraid  Mr.  Walker's  force  of 
logic  and  precision  of  expression  were  somewhat  lost 
upon  me.  I  was  sensible  I  had  chosen  an  improper  time 
to  disturb  Mr.  Fairscribe,  and  when  the  discourse  was 
ended  I  rose  to  take  my  leave,  somewhat  hastily,  I 
believe.  'A  cup  of  tea,  Mr.  Croftangry?'  said  the  young 
lady.  'You  will  wait  and  take  part  of  a  Presbyterian 
supper?'  said  Mr.  Fairscribe.  'Nine  o'clock  —  I  make 
it  a  point  of  keeping  my  father's  hours  on  Sunday  at 

e'en.  Perhaps  Dr. (naming  an  excellent  clergyman) 

may  look  in.' 

I  made  my  apology  for  declining  his  invitation;  and  I 
fancy  my  unexpected  appearance  and  hasty  retreat  had 
rather  surprised  my  friend,  since,  instead  of  accompany- 

*  Robert  Walker,  the  colleague  and  rival  of  Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  in  St. 
Giles's  Church,  Edinburgh. 

i86 


MR.   CROFTANGRY'S   PREFACE 

ing  me  to  the  door,  he  conducted  me  into  his  own  apart- 
ment. 

'What  is  the  matter,'  he  said,  *Mr.  Croftangry?  This 
is  not  a  night  for  secular  business,  but  if  anything  sudden 
or  extraordinary  has  happened  — ' 

'Nothing  in  the  world,'  said  I,  forcing  myself  upon 
confession,  as  the  best  way  of  clearing  myself  out  of  the 
scrape;  'only  —  only  I  sent  you  a  little  parcel,  and  as 
you  are  so  regular  in  acknowledging  letters  and  commu- 
nications, I  —  I  thought  it  might  have  miscarried  — 
that's  all.' 

My  friend  laughed  heartily,  as  if  he  saw  into  and 
enjoyed  my  motives  and  my  confusion.  'Safe!  It  came 
safe  enough,'  he  said.  'The  wind  of  the  world  always 
blows  its  vanities  into  haven.  But  this  is  the  end  of  the 
session,  when  I  have  little  time  to  read  anything  printed 
except  Inner  House  papers;  yet  if  you  will  take  your  kail 
with  us  next  Saturday,  I  will  glance  over  your  work, 
though  I  am  sure  I  am  no  competent  judge  of  such 
matters.' 

With  this  promise  I  was  fain  to  take  my  leave,  not 
without  half  persuading  myself  that,  if  once  the  phleg- 
matic lawyer  began  my  lucubrations,  he  would  not  be 
able  to  rise  from  them  till  he  had  finished  the  perusal, 
nor  to  endure  an  interval  betwixt  his  reading  the  last 
page  and  requesting  an  interview  with  the  author. 

No  such  marks  of  impatience  displayed  themselves. 
Time,  blunt  or  keen,  as  my  friend  Joanna  says,  swift  or 
leisurely,  held  his  course;  and  on  the  appointed  Saturday 
I  was  at  the  door  precisely  as  it  struck  four.  The  dinner 
hour,  indeed,  was  five  punctually,  but  what  did  I  know 
but  my  friend  might  want  half  an  hour's  conversation 

187 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

with  me  before  that  time?  I  was  ushered  into  an  empty 
drawing-room,  and,  from  a  needle-book  and  work-bas- 
ket, hastily  abandoned,  I  had  some  reason  to  think  I 
interrupted  my  little  friend,  Miss  Katie,  in  some  domes- 
tic labour  more  praiseworthy  than  elegant.  In  this  criti- 
cal age  fihal  piety  must  hide  herself  in  a  closet  if  she 
has  a  mind  to  darn  her  father's  linen. 

Shortly  after  I  was  the  more  fully  convinced  that  I 
had  been  too  early  an  intruder,  when  a  wench  came  to 
fetch  away  the  basket,  and  recommend  to  my  courtesies 
a  red  and  green  gentleman  in  a  cage,  who  answered  all 
my  advances  by  croaking  out, '  You  're  a  fool  —  you  're  a 
fool,  I  tell  you ! '  until,  upon  my  word,  I  began  to  think 
the  creature  was  in  the  right.  At  last  my  friend  arrived  a 
little  overheated.  He  had  been  taking  a  turn  at  golf  to 
prepare  him  for  'colloquy  sublime.'  And,  wherefore  not, 
since  the  game,  with  its  variety  of  odds,  lengths,  bun- 
kers, tee'd  balls,  and  so  on,  may  be  no  inadequate  repre- 
sentation of  the  hazards  attending  literary  pursuits?  In 
particular,  those  formidable  buffets  which  make  one 
ball  spin  through  the  air  Uke  a  rifle-shot,  and  strike 
another  down  into  the  very  earth  it  is  placed  upon,  by 
the  maladroitness  or  the  mahcious  purpose  of  the  player 
■ —  what  are  they  but  parallels  to  the  favourable  or 
depreciating  notices  of  the  reviewers,  who  play  at  golf 
with  the  pubhcations  of  the  season,  even  as  Altisidora, 
in  her  approach  to  the  gates  of  the  infernal  regions,  saw 
the  devils  playing  at  racket  with  the  new  books  of  Ccr- 
vantes's  days. 

Well,  every  hour  has  its  end.  Five  o'clock  came,  and 
my  friend,  with  his  daughters  and  his  handsome  young 
son,  who,  though  fairly  buckled  to  the  desk,  is  every  now 


MR.   CROFTANGRY'S  PREFACE 

and  then  looking  over  his  shoulder  at  a  smart  uniform, 
set  seriously  about  satisfying  the  corporeal  wants  of  na- 
ture; while  I,  stimulated  by  a  nobler  appetite  after  fame, 
wished  that  the  touch  of  a  magic  wand  could,  without 
all  the  ceremony  of  picking  and  choosing,  carving  and 
slicing,  masticating  and  swallowing,  have  transported  a 
quantum  sufficit  of  the  good  things  on  my  friend's  hos- 
pitable board  into  the  stomachs  of  those  who  surrounded 
it,  to  be  there  at  leisure  converted  into  chyle,  while  their 
thoughts  were  turned  on  higher  matters.  At  length  all 
was  over.  But  the  young  ladies  sat  still  and  talked  of  the 
music  of  The  Freischiitz,  for  nothing  else  was  then 
thought  of :  so  we  discussed  the  wild  hunters'  song,  and 
the  tame  hunters'  song,  etc.,  etc.,  in  all  which  my  young 
friends  were  quite  at  home.  Luckily  for  me,  all  this 
horning  and  hooping  drew  on  some  allusion  to  the 
Seventh  Hussars,  which  gallant  regiment,  I  observe,  is  a 
more  favourite  theme  with  both  Miss  Catherine  and  her 
brother  than  with  my  old  friend,  who  presently  looked 
at  his  watch,  and  said  something  significantly  to  Mr. 
James  about  office  hours.  The  youth  got  up  with  the 
ease  of  a  youngster  that  would  be  thought  a  man  of 
fashion  rather  than  of  business,  and  endeavoured,  with 
some  success,  to  walk  out  of  the  room  as  if  the  locomo- 
tion was  entirely  voluntary;  Miss  Catherine  and  her 
sisters  left  us  at  the  same  time,  and  now,  thought  I,  my 
trial  comes  on. 

Reader,  did  you  ever,  in  the  course  of  your  life,  cheat 
the  courts  of  justice  and  lawyers  by  agreeing  to  refer  a 
dubious  and  important  question  to  the  decision  of  a 
mutual  friend?  If  so,  you  may  have  remarked  the  rela- 
tive change  which  the  arbiter  undergoes  in  your  cstima- 

189 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

tion,  when  raised,  though  by  your  own  free  choice,  from 
an  ordinary  acquaintance,  whose  opinions  were  of  as 
little  consequence  to  you  as  yours  to  him,  into  a  superior 
personage,  on  whose  decision  your  fate  must  depend  pro 
tanto,  as  my  friend  Mr.  Fairscribe  would  say.  His  looks 
assume  a  mysterious,  if  not  a  minatory,  expression;  his 
hat  has  a  loftier  air,  and  his  wig,  if  he  wears  one,  a 
more  formidable  buckle. 

I  felt,  accordingly,  that  my  good  friend  Fairscribe,  on 
the  present  occasion,  had  acquired  something  of  a 
similar  increase  of  consequence.  But  a  week  since,  he 
had,  in  my  opinion,  been  indeed  an  excellent-meaning 
man,  perfectly  competent  to  everything  within  his  own 
profession,  but  immured  at  the  same  time  among  its 
forms  and  technicalities,  and  as  incapable  of  judging  of 
matters  of  taste  as  any  mighty  Goth  whatsoever,  of  or 
belonging  to  the  ancient  Senate  House  of  Scotland.  But 
what  of  that?  I  had  made  him  my  judge  by  my  own 
election;  and  I  have  often  observed  that  an  idea  of 
declining  such  a  reference  on  account  of  his  own  con- 
sciousness of  incompetency  is,  as  it  perhaps  ought  to  be, 
the  last  which  occurs  to  the  referee  himself.  He  that  has 
a  Uterary  work  subjected  to  his  judgment  by  the  author 
immediately  throws  his  mind  into  a  critical  attitude, 
though  the  subject  be  one  which  he  never  before  thought 
of.  No  doubt  the  author  is  well  quahfied  to  select  his 
own  judge,  and  why  should  the  arbiter  whom  he  has 
chosen  doubt  his  own  talents  for  condemnation  or 
acquittal,  since  he  has  been  doubtless  picked  out  by  his 
friend  from  his  indubitable  reliance  on  their  competence? 
Surely  the  man  who  wrote  the  production  is  likely  to 
know  the  person  best  qualified  to  judge  of  it. 

190 


MR.   CROFTANGRY'S   PREFACE 

Whilst  these  thoughts  crossed  my  brain,  I  kept  my 
eyes  fixed  on  my  good  friend,  whose  motions  appeared 
unusually  tardy  to  me,  while  he  ordered  a  bottle  of  par- 
ticular claret,  decanted  it  with  scrupulous  accuracy  with 
his  own  hand,  caused  his  old  domestic  to  bring  a  saucer 
of  olives,  and  chips  of  toasted  bread,  and  thus,  on  hos- 
pitable thoughts  intent,  seemed  to  me  to  adjourn  the 
discussion  which  I  longed  to  bring  on,  yet  feared  to 
precipitate. 

'He  is  dissatisfied,'  thought  I,  'and  is  ashamed  to 
show  it  —  afraid,  doubtless,  of  hurting  my  feeUngs. 
What  had  I  to  do  to  talk  to  him  about  anything  save 
charters  and  sasines?  Stay,  he  is  going  to  begin.' 

'We  are  old  fellows  now,  Mr.  Croftangry,'  said  my 
landlord;  'scarcely  so  fit  to  take  a  poor  quart  of  claret 
between  us  as  we  would  have  been  in  better  days  to 
take  a  pint,  in  the  old  Scottish  Hberal  acceptation  of  the 
phrase.  Maybe  you  would  have  liked  me  to  have  kept 
James  to  help  us.  But  if  it  is  not  on  a  holyday  or  so,  I 
think  it  is  best  he  should  observe  ofiice  hours.' 

Here  the  discourse  was  about  to  fall.  I  relieved  it  by 
saying,  Mr.  James  was  at  the  happy  time  of  life  when  he 
had  better  things  to  do  than  to  sit  over  the  bottle.  'I 
suppose,'  said  I,  'your  son  is  a  reader.' 

'  Um  —  yes  —  James  may  be  called  a  reader  in  a  sense ; 
but  I  doubt  there  is  little  solid  in  his  studies  —  poetry 
and  plays,  Mr.  Croftangry,  all  nonsense;  they  set  his 
head  a-gadding  after  the  army,  when  he  should  be  mind- 
ing his  business.' 

'I  suppose,  then,  that  romances  do  not  find  much 
more  grace  in  your  eyes  than  dramatic  and  poetical 
compositions? ' 

191 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*Deil  a  bit  —  deil  a  bit,  Mr.  Croftangry,  nor  historical 
productions  either.  There  is  too  much  fighting  in  his- 
tory, as  if  men  only  were  brought  into  this  world  to  send 
one  another  out  of  it.  It  nourishes  false  notions  of  our 
being,  and  chief  and  proper  end,  Mr.  Croftangry.' 

Still  all  this  was  general,  and  I  became  determined  to 
bring  our  discourse  to  a  focus.  '  I  am  afraid,  then,  I  have 
done  very  ill  to  trouble  you  with  my  idle  manuscripts, 
Mr.  Fairscribe;  but  you  must  do  me  the  justice  to  remem- 
ber that  I  had  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  amuse  myself 
by  writing  the  sheets  I  put  into  your  hands  the  other 
day.  I  may  truly  plead  — 

I  left  no  calling  for  this  idle  trade.' 

*I  cry  your  mercy,  Mr.  Croftangry,'  said  my  old 
friend,  suddenly  recollecting;  *yes  —  yes,  I  have  been 
very  rude;  but  I  had  forgotten  entirely  that  you  had 
taken  a  spell  yourself  at  that  idle  man's  trade.' 

'I  suppose,'  replied  I,  'you,  on  your  side,  have  been 
too  busy  a  man  to  look  at  my  poor  Chronicles  ? ' 

'No  —  no,'  said  my  friend,  *I  am  not  so  bad  as  that 
neither.  I  have  read  them  bit  by  bit,  just  as  I  could  get 
a  moment's  time,  and  I  believe  I  shall  very  soon  get 
through  them.' 

'  Well,  my  good  friend? '  said  I,  interrogatively. 

And  'Well,  Mr.  Croftangry,'  cried  he,  'I  really  think 
you  have  got  over  the  ground  very  tolerably  well.  I  have 
noted  down  here  two  or  three  bits  of  things,  which  I 
presume  to  be  errors  of  the  press,  otherwise  it  might  be 
alleged,  perhaps,  that  you  did  not  fully  pay  that  atten- 
tion to  the  grammatical  rules  which  one  would  desire  to 
see  rigidly  observed.' 

192 


MR.   CROFTANGRY'S.  PREFACE 

I  looked  at  my  friend's  notes,  which,  in  fact,  showed 
that,  in  one  or  two  grossly  obvious  passages,  I  had  left 
uncorrected  such  solecisms  in  grammar. 

'Well  —  well,  I  own  my  fault;  but,  setting  apart  these 
casual  errors,  how  do  you  like  the  matter  and  the  manner 
of  what  I  have  been  writing,  Mr.  Fairscribe?' 

'Why,'  said  my  friend,  pausing,  with  more  grave  and 
important  hesitation  than  I  thanked  him  for,  'there  is 
not  much  to  be  said  against  the  manner.  The  style  is 
terse  and  intelligible,  Mr.  Croftangry  —  very  intelligi- 
ble ;  and  that  I  consider  as  the  first  point  in  everything 
that  is  intended  to  be  understood.  There  are,  indeed, 
here  and  there  some  flights  and  fancies,  which  I  compre- 
hended with  difficulty ;  but  I  got  to  your  meaning  at  last. 
There  are  people  that  are  Hke  ponies :  their  judgments 
cannot  go  fast,  but  they  go  sure.' 

'That  is  a  pretty  clear  proposition,  my  friend;  but 
then  how  did  you  like  the  meaning  when  you  did  get  at 
it?  or  was  that,  like  some  ponies,  too  difficult  to  catch, 
and,  when  catched,  not  worth  the  trouble?' 

*  I  am  far  from  saying  that,  my  dear  sir,  in  respect  it 
would  be  downright  uncivil;  but  since  you  ask  my  opin- 
ion, I  wish  you  could  have  thought  about  something 
more  appertaining  to  civil  policy  than  all  this  bloody 
work  about  shooting  and  dirking,  and  downright  hang- 
ing. I  am  told  it  was  the  Germans  who  first  brought  in 
such  a  practice  of  choosing  their  heroes  out  of  the  Por- 
teous  RoU;^  but,  by  my  faith,  we  are  hke  to  be  upsides 
with  them.  The  first  was,  as  I  am  credibly  informed, 
Mr.  Scolar,  as  they  call  him  —  a  scholar-Hke  piece  of 
work  he  has  made  of  it,  with  his  robbers  and  thieves.' 
*  List  of  criminal  indictments,  so  termed  in  Scotland. 
a  193 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS  ' 

'Schiller,'  said  I,  'my  dear  sir  —  let  it  be  Schiller.' 

'Shiller,  or  what  you  like/  said  Mr.  Fairscribe.  'I 
found  the  book  where  I  wish  I  had  found  a  better  one, 
and  that  is,  in  Kate's  work-basket.  I  sat  down,  and,  Hke 
an  old  fool,  began  to  read ;  but  there,  I  grant,  you  have 
the  better  of  Shiller,  Mr.  Croftangry.' 

'  I  should  be  glad,  my  dear  sir,  that  you  really  think  I 
have  approached  that  admirable  author;  even  your 
friendly  partiality  ought  not  to  talk  of  my  having  excelled 
him.' 

'  But  I  do  say  you  have  excelled  him,  Mr.  Croftangry, 
in  a  most  material  particular.  For  surely  a  book  of 
amusement  should  be  something  that  one  can  take  up 
and  lay  down  at  pleasure;  and  I  can  say  justly,  I  was 
never  at  the  least  loss  to  put  aside  these  sheets  of  yours 
when  business  came  in  the  way.  But,  faith,  this  Shiller, 
sir,  does  not  let  you  off  so  easily.  I  forgot  one  appoint- 
ment on  particular  business,  and  I  wilfully  broke  through 
another,  that  I  might  stay  at  home  and  finish  his  con- 
founded book,  which,  after  all,  is  about  two  brothers, 
the  greatest  rascals  I  ever  heard  of.  The  one,  sir,  goes 
near  to  murder  his  own  father,  and  the  other  —  which 
you  would  think  still  stranger  —  sets  about  to  debauch 
his  own  wife.' 

*I  find,  then,  Mr.  Fairscribe,  that  you  have  no  taste 
for  the  romance  of  real  life,  no  pleasure  in  contemplating 
those  spirit-rousing  impulses  which  force  men  of  fiery 
passions  upon  great  crimes  and  great  virtues?' 

'Why,  as  to  that,  I  am  not  just  so  sure.  But  then,  to 
mend  the  matter,'  continued  the  critic,  'you  have 
brought  in  Highlanders  into  every  story,  as  if  you  were 
going  back  again,  velis  et  remis,  into  the  old  days  of 

194 


MR.  CROFTANGRY'S  PREFACE 

Jacobitism.  I  must  speak  my  plain  mind,  Mr.  Croft- 
angry.  I  cannot  tell  what  innovations  in  kirk  and  state 
may  now  be  proposed,  but  our  fathers  were  friends  to 
both,  as  they  were  settled  at  the  glorious  Revolution, 
and  liked  a  tartan  plaid  as  little  as  they  did  a  white 
surplice.  I  wish  to  Heaven  all  this  tartan  fever  bode  well 
to  the  Protestant  succession  and  the  Kirk  of  Scotland.' 

'Both  too  well  settled,  I  hope,  in  the  minds  of  the 
subject,'  said  I,  'to  be  affected  by  old  remembrances,  on 
which  we  look  back  as  on  the  portraits  of  our  ancestors, 
without  recollecting,  while  we  gaze  on  them,  any  of  the 
feuds  by  which  the  originals  were  animated  while  aUve. 
But  most  happy  should  I  be  to  light  upon  any  topic  to 
supply  the  place  of  the  Highlands,  Mr.  Fairscribe.  I  have 
been  just  reflecting  that  the  theme  is  becoming  a  little 
exhausted,  and  your  experience  may  perhaps  supply  — ' 

'  Ha  —  ha  —  ha,  my  experience  supply ! '  interrupted 
Mr.  Fairscribe,  with  a  laugh  of  derision.  'Why,  you 
might  as  well  ask  my  son  James's  experience  to  supply  a 
case  about  thirlage.  No  —  no,  my  good  friend,  I  have 
lived  by  the  law  and  in  the  law  all  my  life;  and  when  you 
seek  the  impulses  that  make  soldiers  desert  and  shoot 
their  sergeants  and  corporals,  and  Highland  drovers  dirk 
English  graziers,  to  prove  themselves  men  of  fiery  pas- 
sions, it  is  not  to  a  man  like  me  you  should  come.  I 
could  tell  you  some  tricks  of  my  own  trade,  perhaps,  and 
a  queer  story  or  two  of  estates  that  have  been  lost  and 
recovered.  But,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  think  you  might 
do  with  your  Muse  of  Fiction,  as  you  call  her,  as  many 
an  honest  man  does  with  his  own  sons  in  flesh  and  blood.' 

'And  how  is  that,  my  dear  sir?' 

'  Send  her  to  India,  to  be  sure.  That  is  the  true  place 

195 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

for  a  Scot  to  thrive  in;  and  if  you  carry  your  story  fifty 
years  back,  as  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  you,  you  will 
find  as  much  shooting  and  stabbing  there  as  ever  was 
in  the  wild  Highlands.  If  you  want  rogues,  as  they  are 
so  much  in  fashion  with  you,  you  have  that  gallant  caste 
of  adventurers  who  laid  down  their  consciences  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  as  they  went  out  to  India,  and  forgot 
to  take  them  up  again  when  they  returned.  Then,  for 
great  exploits,  you  have  in  the  old  history  of  India, 
before  Europeans  were  numerous  there,  the  most  won- 
derful deeds,  done  by  the  least  possible  means,  that  per- 
haps the  annals  of  the  world  can  afford.' 

*I  know  it,'  said  I,  kindling  at  the  ideas  his  speech 
inspired.  *  I  remember,  in  the  delightful  pages  of  Orme, 
the  interest  which  mingles  in  his  narratives,  from  the 
very  small  number  of  English  which  are  engaged.  Each 
ofiicer  of  a  regiment  becomes  known  to  you  by  name  — 
nay,  the  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  acquire 
an  individual  share  of  interest.  They  are  distinguished 
among  the  natives  like  the  Spaniards  among  the  Mexi- 
cans. What  do  I  say?  They  are  like  Homer's  demigods 
among  the  warring  mortals.  Men  Hke  Clive  and  Cail- 
liaud  influenced  great  events  like  Jove  himself.  Inferior 
officers  are  hke  Mars  or  Neptune,  and  the  sergeants  and 
corporals  might  well  pass  for  demigods.  Then  the  various 
rehgious  costumes,  habits,  and  manners  of  the  people  of 
Hindostan  —  the  patient  Hindoo,  the  warhke  Rajah- 
poot,  the  haughty  Moslemah,  the  savage  and  vindictive 
Malay.  Glorious  and  unbounded  subjects!  The  only 
objection  is,  that  I  have  never  been  there,  and  know 
nothing  at  all  about  them.' 

'Nonsense,  my  good  friend.   You  will  tell  us  about 


MR.   CROFTANGRY'S  PREFACE 

them  all  the  better  that  you  know  nothing  of  what  you 
are  saying.  And  come,  we  '11  finish  the  bottle,  and  when 
Katie  —  her  sisters  go  to  the  assembly  —  has  given  us 
tea,  she  will  tell  you  the  outline  of  the  story  of  poor 
Menie  Gray,  whose  picture  you  will  see  in  the  drawing- 
room,  a  distant  relation  of  my  father's,  who  had,  how- 
ever, a  handsome  part  of  cousin  Menie's  succession. 
There  are  none  living  that  can  be  hurt  by  the  story  now, 
though  it  was  thought  best  to  smother  it  up  at  the  time, 
as  indeed  even  the  whispers  about  it  led  poor  cousin 
Menie  to  live  very  retired.  I  mind  her  well  when  a  child. 
There  was  something  very  gentle,  but  rather  tiresome, 
about  poor  cousin  Menie.' 

When  we  came  into  the  drawing-room,  my  friend 
pointed  to  a  picture  which  I  had  before  noticed,  without, 
however,  its  having  attracted  more  than  a  passing  look ; 
now  I  regarded  it  with  more  attention.  It  was  one  of 
those  portraits  of  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
in  which  artists  endeavoured  to  conquer  the  stiffness  of 
hoops  and  brocades,  by  throwing  a  fancy  drapery  around 
the  figure,  with  loose  folds  hke  a  mantle  or  dressing- 
gown,  the  stays,  however,  being  retained,  and  the  bosom 
displayed  in  a  manner  which  shows  that  our  mothers, 
like  their  daughters,  were  as  Hberal  of  their  charms  as 
the  nature  of  their  dress  might  permit.  To  this,  the  well- 
known  style  of  the  period,  the  features  and  form  of  the 
individual  added,  at  first  sight,  httle  interest.  It  repre- 
sented a  handsome  woman  of  about  thirty,  her  hair 
wound  simply  about  her  head,  her  features  regular,  and 
her  complexion  fair.  But  on  looking  more  closely,  espe- 
cially after  having  had  a  hint  that  the  original  had  been 
the  heroine  of  a  tale,  I  could  observe  a  melancholy  sweet- 

197 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ness  in  the  countenance,  that  seemed  to  speak  of  woes 
endured  and  injuries  sustained  with  that  resignation 
which  women  can  and  do  sometimes  display  under  the 
insults  and  ingratitude  of  those  on  whom  they  have 
bestowed  their  affections. 

'Yes,  she  was  an  excellent  and  an  ill-used  woman,' 
said  Mr.  Fairscribe,  his  eye  fixed  like  mine  on  the  pic- 
ture. *  She  left  our  family  not  less,  I  dare  say,  than  five 
thousand  pounds,  and  I  believe  she  died  worth  four 
times  that  sum;  but  it  was  divided  among  the  nearest 
of  kin,  which  was  all  fair.' 

'But  her  history,  Mr.  Fairscribe,'  said  I;  *to  judge 
from  her  look,  it  must  have  been  a  melancholy  one.' 

'You  may  say  that,  Mr.  Croftangry.  Melancholy 
enough,  and  extraordinary  enough  too.  But,'  added  he, 
swallowing  in  haste  a  cup  of  the  tea  which  was  presented 
to  him,  'I  must  away  to  my  business:  we  cannot  be 
gowffing  all  the  morning,  and  telKng  old  stories  all  the 
afternoon.  Katie  knows  all  the  outs  and  the  ins  of  cousin 
Menie's  adventures  as  well  as  I  do,  and  when  she  has 
given  you  the  particulars,  then  I  am  at  your  service,  to 
condescend  more  articulately  upon  dates  or  particulars.' 

Well,  here  was  I,  a  gay  old  bachelor,  left  to  hear  a  love 
tale  from  my  young  friend  Katie  Fairscribe,  who,  when 
she  is  not  surrounded  by  a  bevy  of  gallants,  at  which 
time,  to  my  thinking,  she  shows  less  to  advantage,  is  as 
pretty,  well-behaved,  and  unaffected  a  girl  as  you  see 
tripping  the  new  walks  of  Princes  Street  or  Heriot  Row. 
Old  bachelorship  so  decided  as  mine  has  its  privileges 
in  such  a  tete-d-tete,  providing  you  are,  or  can  seem  for 
the  time,  perfectly  good-humoured  and  attentive,  and 
do  not   ape   the  manners  of  your  younger  years,  in 

198 


MR.    CROFTANGRY'S  PREFACE 

attempting  which  you  will  only  make  yourself  ridicu- 
lous. I  don't  pretend  to  be  so  indifferent  to  the  company 
of  a  pretty  young  woman  as  was  desired  by  the  poet, 
who  wished  to  sit  beside  his  mistress  — 

As  unconcern'd,  as  when 
Her  infant  beauty  could  beget 
Nor  happiness  nor  pain. 

On  the  contrary,  I  can  look  on  beauty  and  innocence  as 
something  of  which  I  know  and  esteem  the  value,  with- 
out the  desire  or  hope  to  make  them  my  own.  A  young 
lady  can  afford  to  talk  with  an  old  stager  like  me  without 
either  artifice  or  affectation;  and  we  may  maintain  a 
species  of  friendship,  the  more  tender,  perhaps,  because 
we  are  of  different  sexes,  yet  with  which  that  distinction 
has  very  little  to  do. 

Now,  I  hear  my  wisest  and  most  critical  neighbour 
remark,  *  Mr.  Crof  tangry  is  in  the  way  of  doing  a  f  oohsh 
thing.  He  is  well  to  pass  —  Old  Fairscribe  knows  to  a 
penny  what  he  is  worth,  and  Miss  Katie,  with  all  her  airs, 
may  like  the  old  brass  that  buys  the  new  pan.  I  thought 
Mr.  Crof  tangry  was  looking  very  cadgy  when  he  came  in 
to  play  a  rubber  with  us  last  night.  Poor  gentleman,  I  am 
sure  I  should  be  sorry  to  see  him  make  a  fool  of  himself.' 

Spare  your  compassion,  dear  madam,  there  is  not  the 
least  danger.  The  heaux  yeux  de  ma  cassette  are  not  bril- 
liant enough  to  make  amends  for  the  spectacles  which 
must  supply  the  dimness  of  my  own.  I  am  a  little  deaf 
too,  as  you  know  to  your  sorrow  when  we  are  partners; 
and  if  I  could  get  a  nymph  to  marry  me  with  all  these 
imperfections,  who  the  deuce  would  marry  Janet 
M'Evoy?  and  from  Janet  M'Evoy  Chrystal  Croftangry 
will  not  part. 

199 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Miss  Katie  Fairscribe  gave  me  the  tale  of  Menie  Gray 
with  much  taste  and  simplicity,  not  attempting  to  sup- 
press the  feelings,  whether  of  grief  or  resentment,  which 
justly  and  naturally  arose  from  the  circumstances  of  the 
tale.  Her  father  afterwards  confirmed  the  principal  out- 
lines of  the  story,  and  furnished  me  with  some  additional 
circumstances,  which  Miss  Katie  had  suppressed  or  for- 
gotten. Indeed,  I  have  learned  on  this  occasion  what 
old  Lintot  meant  when  he  told  Pope  that  he  used  to 
propitiate  the  critics  of  importance,  when  he  had  a  work 
in  the  press,  by  now  and  then  letting  them  see  a  sheet 
of  the  blotted  proof,  or  a  few  leaves  of  the  original  manu- 
script. Our  mystery  of  authorship  hath  something  about 
it  so  fascinating,  that  if  you  admit  anyone,  however  little 
he  may  previously  have  been  disposed  to  such  studies, 
into  your  confidence,  you  will  find  that  he  considers 
himself  as  a  party  interested,  and,  if  success  follows,  will 
think  himself  entitled  to  no  inconsiderable  share  of  the 
praise. 

The  reader  has  seen  that  no  one  could  have  been 
naturally  less  interested  than  was  my  excellent  friend 
Fairscribe  in  my  lucubrations,  when  I  first  consulted  him 
on  the  subject;  but  since  he  has  contributed  a  subject  to 
the  work,  he  has  become  a  most  zealous  coadjutor;  and, 
half-ashamed,  I  believe,  yet  half-proud,  of  the  literary 
stock-company  in  which  he  has  got  a  share,  he  never 
meets  me  without  jogging  my  elbow,  and  dropping  some 
mysterious  hints,  as,  'I  am  saying,  when  will  you  give 
us  any  more  of  yon?'  or,  '  Yon's  not  a  bad  narrative  — 
I  like  yon.' 

Pray  Heaven  the  reader  may  be  of  his  opinion. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  tale  of  The  Surgeon's  Daughter  formed  part  of  the 
Second  ^  Series  of  Chronicles  of  the  Canongate,  published 
in  1827;  but  has  been  separated  from  the  stories  of  The 
Highland  Widow,  etc.,  which  it  originally  accompanied, 
and  deferred  to  the  close  of  this  collection,  for  reasons 
which  printers  and  publishers  will  understand,  and 
which  would  hardly  interest  the  general  reader. 

The  Author  has  nothing  to  say  now  in  reference  to  this 
little  novel,  but  that  the  principal  incident  on  which  it 
turns  was  narrated  to  him  one  morning  at  breakfast  by 
his  worthy  friend,  Mr.  Train,  of  Castle  Douglas,  in 
Galloway,  whose  kind  assistance  he  has  so  often  had 
occasion  to  acknowledge  in  the  course  of  these  prefaces; 
and  that  the  miUtary  friend  who  is  alluded  to  as  having 
furnished  him  with  some  information  as  to  Eastern  mat- 
ters was  Colonel  James  Ferguson  of  Huntly  Burn,  one 
of  the  sons  of  the  venerable  historian  and  philosopher  of 
that  name,  which  name  he  took  the  liberty  of  concealing 
under  its  Gaelic  form  of  MacErries. 

W.  S. 

Abbotsford,  Sept.  1831. 

*  Evidently  a  misprint  for  'First.' 


MA  i^RSAM  Sl^iE  COLLEai 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 


CHAPTER  I 

When  fainting  Nature  call'd  for  aid, 

And  hovering  Death  prepared  the  blow, 
His  vigorous  remedy  display'd 

The  power  of  Art  without  the  show. 
In  Misery's  darkest  caverns  known. 

His  useful  care  was  ever  nigh, 
Where  hopeless  Anguish  pour'd  his  groan, 

And  lonely  Want  retired  to  die; 
No  summons  mock'd  by  cold  delay. 

No  petty  gains  disclaim'd  by  pride, 
The  modest  wants  of  every  day 

The  toil  of  every  day  supplied. 

Samuel  Johnson. 

The  exquisitely  beautiful  portrait  which  the  Rambler 
has  painted  of  his  friend  Levett  well  describes  Gideon 
Gray  and  many  other  village  doctors,  from  whom  Scot- 
land reaps  more  benefit,  and  to  whom  she  is  perhaps 
more  ungrateful,  than  to  any  other  class  of  men,  except- 
ing her  schoolmasters. 

Such  a  rural  man  of  medicine  is  usually  the  inhabitant 
of  some  petty  borough  or  village,  which  forms  the  cen- 
tral point  of  his  practice.  But,  besides  attending  to 
such  cases  as  the  village  may  afford,  he  is  day  and  night 
at  the  service  of  every  one  who  may  command  his  assist- 
ance within  a  circle  of  forty  miles  in  diameter,  untrav- 
ersed  by  roads  in  many  directions,  and  including  moors, 
mountains,  rivers,  and  lakes.  For  late  and  dangerous 
journeys  through  an  inaccessible  country,  for  services 
of  the  most  essential  kind,  rendered  at  the  expense,  or 

203 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

risk  at  least,  of  his  own  health  and  life,  the  Scottish  vil- 
lage doctor  receives  at  best  a  very  moderate  recompense, 
often  one  which  is  totally  inadequate,  and  very  fre- 
quently none  whatsoever.  He  has  none  of  the  ample 
resources  proper  to  the  brothers  of  the  profession  in  an 
English  town.  The  burgesses  of  a  Scottish  borough  are 
rendered,  by  their  limited  means  of  luxury,  inaccessible 
to  gout,  surfeits,  and  all  the  comfortable  chronic  diseases 
which  are  attendant  on  wealth  and  indolence.  Four  years 
or  so  of  abstemiousness  enable  them  to  stand  an  election 
dinner;  and  there  is  no  hope  of  broken  heads  among  a 
score  or  two  of  quiet  electors,  who  settle  the  business  over 
a  table.  There  the  mothers  of  the  state  never  make  a 
point  of  pouring,  in  the  course  of  every  revolving  year,  a 
certain  quantity  of  doctor's  stuff  through  the  bowels  of 
their  beloved  children.  Every  old  woman  from  the 
*  townhead  to  the  townfit '  can  prescribe  a  dose  of  salts 
or  spread  a  plaster;  and  it  is  only  when  a  fever  or  a  palsy 
renders  matters  serious  that  the  assistance  of  the  doctor 
is  invoked  by  his  neighbours  in  the  borough. 

But  still  the  man  of  science  cannot  complain  of 
inactivity  or  want  of  practice.  If  he  does  not  find  pa- 
tients at  his  door,  he  seeks  them  through  a  wide  circle. 
Like  the  ghostly  lover  of  Burger's  'Leonora,'  he  mounts 
at  midnight,  and  traverses  in  darkness  paths  which,  to 
those  less  accustomed  to  them,  seem  formidable  in  day- 
light, through  straits  where  the  slightest  aberration 
would  plunge  him  into  a  morass,  or  throw  him  over  a 
precipice,  on  to  cabins  which  his  horse  might  ride  over 
without  knowing  they  lay  in  his  way,  unless  he  happened 
to  fall  through  the  roofs.  When  he  arrives  at  such  a 
stately  termination  of  his  journey,  where  his  services  are 

204 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

required  either  to  bring  a  wretch  into  the  world  or  pre- 
vent one  from  leaving  it,  the  scene  of  misery  is  often 
such  that,  far  from  touching  the  hard-saved  shillings 
which  are  gratefully  offered  to  him,  he  bestows  his 
medicines  as  well  as  his  attendance  —  for  charity.  I 
have  heard  the  celebrated  traveller,  Mungo  Park,  who 
had  experienced  both  courses  of  life,  rather  give  the 
preference  to  travelling  as  a  discoverer  in  Africa  than  to 
wandering  by  night  and  day  the  wilds  of  his  native  land 
in  the  capacity  of  a  country  medical  practitioner.  He 
mentioned  having  once  upon  a  time  rode  forty  miles, 
sat  up  all  night,  and  successfully  assisted  a  woman  under 
influence  of  the  primitive  curse,  for  which  his  sole 
remuneration  was  a  roasted  potato  and  a  draught  of 
buttermilk.  But  his  was  not  the  heart  which  grudged 
the  labour  that  relieved  human  misery.  In  short,  there 
is  no  creature  in  Scotland  that  works  harder  and  is  more 
poorly  requited  than  the  country  doctor,  unless  perhaps 
it  may  be  his  horse.  Yet  the  horse  is,  and  indeed  must 
be,  hardy,  active,  and  indefatigable,  in  spite  of  a  rough 
coat  and  indifferent  condition;  and  so  you  will  often  find 
in  his  master,  under  an  unpromising  and  blunt  exterior, 
professional  skill  and  enthusiasm,  intelligence,  humanity, 
courage,  and  science. 

Mr.  Gideon  Gray,  surgeon  in  the  village  of  Middle- 
mas,  situated  in  one  of  the  midland  counties  of  Scotland, 
led  the  rough,  active,  and  ill-rewarded  course  of  Hfe 
which  we  have  endeavoured  to  describe.  He  was  a  man 
between  forty  and  fifty,  devoted  to  his  profession,  and  of 
such  reputation  in  the  medical  world  that  he  had  been 
more  than  once,  as  opportunities  occurred,  advised  to 
exchange  Middlcmas  and  its  meagre  circle  of  practice 

205 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

for  some  of  the  larger  towns  in  Scotland,  or  for  Edin- 
burgh itself.  This  advice  he  had  always  declined.  He 
was  a  plain,  blunt  man,  who  did  not  love  restraint,  and 
was  unwilling  to  subject  himself  to  that  which  was 
exacted  in  polite  society.  He  had  not  himself  found  out, 
nor  had  any  friend  hinted  to  him,  that  a  slight  touch  of 
the  cynic,  in  manner  and  habits,  gives  the  physician,  to 
the  common  eye,  an  air  of  authority  which  greatly  tends 
to  enlarge  his  reputation.  Mr.  Gray,  or,  as  the  country 
people  called  him.  Dr.  Gray  (he  might  hold  the  title  by 
diploma  for  what  I  know,  though  he  only  claimed  the 
rank  of  Master  of  Arts) ,  had  few  wants,  and  these  were 
amply  supplied  by  a  professional  income  which  generally 
approached  two  hundred  pounds  a  year,  for  which,  upon 
an  average,  he  travelled  about  five  thousand  miles  on 
horseback  in  the  course  of  the  twelve  months.  Nay,  so 
liberally  did  this  revenue  support  himself  and  his  ponies, 
called  Pestle  and  Mortar,  which  he  exercised  alternately, 
that  he  took  a  damsel  to  share  it,  Jean  Watson,  namely, 
the  cherry-cheeked  daughter  of  an  honest  farmer,  who, 
being  herself  one  of  twelve  children,  who  had  been 
brought  up  on  an  income  of  fourscore  pounds  a  year, 
never  thought  there  could  be  poverty  in  more  than 
double  the  sum ;  and  looked  on  Gray,  though  now  termed 
by  irreverent  youth  the  Old  Doctor,  as  a  very  advan- 
tageous match.  For  several  years  they  had  no  children, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  Dr.  Gray,  who  had  so  often  assisted 
the  efforts  of  the  goddess  Lucina,  was  never  to  invoke 
her  in  his  own  behalf.  Yet  his  domestic  roof  was,  on  a 
remarkable  occasion,  decreed  to  be  the  scene  where  the 
goddess's  art  was  required. 
Late  of  an  autumn  evening  three  old  women  might  be 
206 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

observed  plying  their  aged  limbs  through  the  single 
street  of  the  village  at  Middlemas  towards  the  honoured 
door,  which,  fenced  off  from  the  vulgar  causeway,  was 
defended  by  a  broken  paling,  inclosing  two  slips  of 
ground,  half  arable,  half  overrun  with  an  abortive  at- 
tempt at  shrubbery.  The  door  itself  was  blazoned 
with  the  name  of  Gideon  Gray,  M.A.,  Surgeon,  etc.  etc. 
Some  of  the  idle  young  fellows  who  had  been  a  minute  or 
two  before  loitering  at  the  other  end  of  the  street  before 
the  door  of  the  ale-house  (for  the  pretended  inn  deserved 
no  better  name)  now  accompanied  the  old  dames  with 
shouts  of  laughter,  excited  by  their  unwonted  agility; 
and  with  bets  on  the  winner,  as  loudly  expressed  as  if 
they  had  been  laid  at  the  starting-post  of  Middlemas 
races.  '  Half-a-mutchkin  on  Luckie  Simson!'  '  Auld  Peg 
Tamson  against  the  field!'  *Mair  speed,  Alison  Jaup, 
ye  '11  tak  the  wind  out  of  them  yet ! '  *  Canny  against  the 
hill,  lasses,  or  we  may  have  a  brusten  auld  carline  amang 
ye!'  These,  and  a  thousand  such  gibes,  rent  the  air, 
without  being  noticed,  or  even  heard,  by  the  anxious 
racers,  whose  object  of  contention  seemed  to  be  which 
should  first  reach  the  doctor's  door. 

*  Guide  us,  doctor,  what  can  be  the  matter  now? '  said 
Mrs.  Gray,  whose  character  was  that  of  a  good-natured 
simpleton ;  '  here 's  Peg  Tamson,  Jean  Simson,  and  Ahson 
Jaup  running  a  race  on  the  Hie  Street  of  the  burgh ! ' 

The  doctor,  who  had  but  the  moment  before  hung  his 
wet  greatcoat  before  the  fire  (for  he  was  just  dismounted 
from  a  long  journey),  hastened  downstairs,  auguring 
some  new  occasion  for  his  services,  and  happy  that,  from 
the  character  of  the  messengers,  it  was  likely  to  be  within 
burgh,  and  not  landward. 

207 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

He  had  just  reached  the  door  as  Luckie  Simson,  one 
of  the  racers,  arrived  in  the  little  area  before  it.  She  had 
got  the  start  and  kept  it,  but  at  the  expense  for  the 
time  of  her  power  of  utterance;  for,  when  she  came  in 
presence  of  the  doctor,  she  stood  blowing  Hke  a  grampus, 
her  loose  toy  flying  back  from  her  face,  making  the  most 
violent  efforts  to  speak,  but  without  the  power  of  utter- 
ing a  single  intelligible  word. 

Peg  Thomson  whipped  in  before  her.  '  The  leddy,  sir 
—  theleddy— ' 

*  Instant  help  —  instant  help — '  screeched,  rather 
than  uttered,  Alison  Jaup ;  while  Luckie  Simson,  who  had 
certainly  won  the  race,  found  words  to  claim  the  prize 
which  had  set  them  all  in  motion.  'And  I  hope,  sir,  you 
will  recommend  me  to  be  the  sick-nurse;  I  was  here  to 
bring  you  the  tidings  lang  before  ony  o'  thae  lazy  queans.' 
Loud  were  the  counter  protestations  of  the  two  com- 
petitors, and  loud  the  laugh  of  the  idle  *  loons '  who 
listened  at  a  little  distance. 

'Hold  your  tongue,  ye  flyting  fools,'  said  the  doctor; 
'and  you,  ye  idle  rascals,  if  I  come  out  among  you  — ' 
So  saying,  he  smacked  his  long-lashed  whip  with  great 
emphasis,  producing  much  the  effect  of  the  celebrated 
Quos  ego  of  Neptune,  in  the  First  '^neid.'  'And 
now,'  said  the  doctor,  'where  or  who  is  this  lady?' 

The  question  was  scarce  necessary;  for  a  plain  car- 
riage, with  four  horses,  came  at  a  foot's-pace  towards 
the  door  of  the  doctor's  house,  and  the  old  women,  now 
more  at  their  ease,  gave  the  doctor  to  understand  that 
the  gentleman  thought  the  accommodation  of  the  Swan 
Inn  totally  unfit  for  his  lady's  rank  and  condition,  and 
had,  by  their  advice  (each  claiming  the  merit  of  the  sug- 

208 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

gestion),  brought  her  here,  to  experience  the  hospitality 
of  the  'west  room'  —  a  spare  apartment  in  which  Dr. 
Gray  occasionally  accommodated  such  patients  as  he 
desired  to  keep  for  a  space  of  time  under  his  own  eye. 

There  were  two  persons  only  in  the  vehicle.  The  one, 
a  gentleman  in  a  riding-dress,  sprung  out,  and  having 
received  from  the  doctor  an  assurance  that  the  lady 
would  receive  tolerable  accommodation  in  his  house,  he 
lent  assistance  to  his  companion  to  leave  the  carriage, 
and  with  great  apparent  satisfaction  saw  her  safely 
deposited  in  a  decent  sleeping-apartment,  and  under  the 
respectable  charge  of  the  doctor  and  his  lady,  who 
assured  him  once  more  of  every  species  of  attention. 
To  bind  their  promise  more  firmly,  the  stranger  slipped 
a  purse  of  twenty  guineas  (for  this  story  chanced  in  the 
golden  age)  into  the  hand  of  the  doctor,  as  an  earnest  of 
the  most  liberal  recompense,  and  requested  he  would 
spare  no  expense  in  providing  all  that  was  necessary  or 
desirable  for  a  person  in  the  lady's  condition,  and  for  the 
helpless  being  to  whom  she  might  immediately  be  ex- 
pected to  give  birth.  He  then  said  he  would  retire  to 
the  inn,  where  he  begged  a  message  might  instantly 
acquaint  him  with  the  expected  change  in  the  lady's 
condition. 

*She  is  of  rank,'  he  said,  'and  a  foreigner;  let  no  ex- 
pense be  spared.  We  designed  to  have  reached  Edin- 
burgh, but  were  forced  to  turn  off  the  road  by  an  acci- 
dent.' Once  more  he  said,  'Let  no  expense  be  spared, 
and  manage  that  she  may  travel  as  soon  as  possible.' 

'That,'  said  the  doctor,  'is  past  my  control.  Nature 
must  not  be  hurried,  and  she  avenges  herself  of  every 
attempt  to  do  so.' 

44  209 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'But  art,'  said  the  stranger,  'can  do  much,' and  he 
proffered  a  second  purse,  which  seemed  as  heavy  as  the 
first. 

'Art,'  said  the  doctor,  'may  be  recompensed,  but  can- 
not be  purchased.  You  have  already  paid  me  more  than 
enough  to  take  the  utmost  care  I  can  of  your  lady ;  should 
I  accept  more  money,  it  could  only  be  for  promising,  by 
implication  at  least,  what  is  beyond  my  power  to  per- 
form. Every  possible  care  shall  be  taken  of  your  lady, 
and  that  affords  the  best  chance  of  her  being  speedily 
able  to  travel.  Now,  go  you  to  the  inn,  sir,  for  I  may  be 
instantly  wanted,  and  we  have  not  yet  provided  either 
an  attendant  for  the  lady  or  a  nurse  for  the  child;  but 
both  shall  be  presently  done.' 

'Yet  a  moment,  doctor — what  languages  do  you  un- 
derstand? ' 

'Latin  and  French  I  can  speak  indifferently,  and  so  as 
to  be  understood;  and  I  read  a  little  Italian.' 

'But  no  Portuguese  or  Spanish?'  continued  the 
stranger. 

'No,  sir.' 

'That  is  unlucky.  But  you  may  make  her  understand 
you  by  means  of  French.  Take  notice,  you  are  to  comply 
with  her  request  in  everything;  if  you  want  means  to 
do  so,  you  may  apply  to  me.' 

'  May  I  ask,  sir,  by  what  name  the  lady  is  to  be  — ' 

'It  is  totally  indifferent,'  said  the  stranger,  interrupt- 
ing the  question;  'you  shall  know  it  at  more  leisure.' 

So  saying,  he  threw  his  ample  cloak  about  him,  turn- 
ing himself  half  round  to  assist  the  operation,  with  an 
air  which  the  doctor  would  have  found  it  difficult  to 
imitate,  and  walked  down  the  street  to  the  little  inn. 

210 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Here  he  paid  and  dismissed  the  postilions,  and  shut 
himself  up  in  an  apartment,  ordering  no  one  to  be  ad- 
mitted till  the  doctor  should  call. 

The  doctor,  when  he  returned  to  his  patient's  apart- 
ment, found  his  wife  in  great  surprise,  which,  as  is  usual 
with  persons  of  her  character,  was  not  unmixed  with  fear 
and  anxiety. 

*  She  cannot  speak  a  word  like  a  Christian  being,'  said 
Mrs.  Gray. 

*I  know  it,'  said  the  doctor. 

'But  she  threeps  to  keep  on  a  black  fause-face,  and 
skirls  if  we  offer  to  take  it  away.' 

*Well,  then,  let  her  wear  it.  What  harm  will  it  do?' 

'Harm,  doctor!  Was  ever  honest  woman  brought  to 
bed  with  a  fause-face  on? ' 

'Seldom,  perhaps.  But,  Jean,  my  dear,  those  who 
are  not  quite  honest  must  be  brought  to  bed  all  the 
same  as  those  who  are,  and  we  are  not  to  endanger 
the  poor  thing's  life  by  contradicting  her  whims  at 
present.' 

Approaching  the  sick  woman's  bed,  he  observed  that 
she  indeed  wore  a  thin  silk  mask,  of  the  kind  which 
do  such  uncommon  service  in  the  Elder  Comedy;  such 
as  women  of  rank  still  wore  in  travelling,  but  certainly 
never  in  the  situation  of  this  poor  lady.  It  would  seem 
she  had  sustained  importunity  on  the  subject,  for  when 
she  saw  the  doctor  she  put  her  hand  to  her  face,  as  if  she 
was  afraid  he  would  insist  on  pulling  off  the  vizard.  He 
hastened  to  say,  in  tolerable  French,  that  her  will  should 
be  a  law  to  them  in  every  respect,  and  that  she  was  at 
perfect  liberty  to  wear  the  mask  till  it  was  her  pleasure 
to  lay  it  aside.  She  understood  him;  for  she  replied,  by  a 

211 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

very  imperfect  attempt,  in  the  same  language,  to  express 
her  gratitude  for  the  permission,  as  she  seemed  to  regard 
it,  of  retaining  her  disguise. 

The  doctor  proceeded  to  other  arrangements;  and, 
for  the  satisfaction  of  those  readers  who  may  love 
minute  information,  we  record  that  Luckie  Simson,  the 
first  in  the  race,  carried  as  a  prize  the  situation  of  sick- 
nurse  beside  the  delicate  patient;  that  Peg  Thomson 
was  permitted  the  privilege  of  recommending  her  good- 
daughter.  Bet  Jamieson,  to  be  wet-nurse;  and  an  oe,  or 
grandchild,  of  Luckie  Jaup  was  hired  to  assist  in  the 
increased  drudgery  of  the  family;  the  doctor  thus,  like  a 
practised  minister,  dividing  among  his  trusty  adherents 
such  good  things  as  fortune  placed  at  his  disposal. 

About  one  in  the  morning  the  doctor  made  his  appear- 
ance at  the  Swan  Inn,  and  acquainted  the  stranger 
gentleman  that  he  wished  him  joy  of  being  the  father  of 
a  healthy  boy,  and  that  the  mother  was,  in  the  usual 
phrase,  as  well  as  could  be  expected. 

The  stranger  heard  the  news  with  seeming  satisfac- 
tion, and  then  exclaimed,  *He  must  be  christened,  doc- 
tor —  he  must  be  christened  instantly.' 

'There  can  be  no  hurry  for  that,'  said  the  doctor. 

'We  think  otherwise,'  said  the  stranger,  cutting  his 
argument  short.  *  I  am  a  Cathohc,  doctor,  and  as  I  may 
be  obhged  to  leave  this  place  before  the  lady  is  able  to 
travel,  I  desire  to  see  my  child  received  into  the  pale  of 
the  church.  There  is,  I  understand,  a  Catholic  priest  in 
this  wretched  place? ' 

'There  is  a  Catholic  gentleman,  sir,  Mr.  Goodriche, 
who  is  reported  to  be  in  orders.' 

'I  commend  your  caution,  doctor,'  said  the  stranger: 

212 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*it  is  dangerous  to  be  too  positive  on  any  subject.  I  will 
bring  that  same  Mr.  Goodriche  to  your  house  to- 
morrow.' 

Gray  hesitated  for  a  moment.  *I  am  a  Presbyterian 
Protestant,  sir,'  he  said,  *a  friend  to  the  constitution  as 
established  in  church  and  state,  as  I  have  a  good  right, 
having  drawn  his  Majesty's  pay,  God  bless  him,  for  four 
years,  as  surgeon's  mate  in  the  Cameronian  regiment,  as 
my  regimental  Bible  and  commission  can  testify.  But 
although  I  be  bound  especially  to  abhor  all  trafficking  or 
trinketing  with  Papists,  yet  I  will  not  stand  in  the  way 
of  a  tender  conscience.  Sir,  you  may  call  with  Mr.  Good- 
riche when  you  please  at  my  house;  and  undoubtedly, 
you  being,  as  I  suppose,  the  father  of  the  child,  you  will 
arrange  matters  as  you  please;  only,  I  do  not  desire  to  be 
thought  an  abettor  or  countenancer  of  any  part  of  the 
Popish  ritual.' 

'  Enough,  sir,'  said  the  stranger,  haughtily,  *  we  under- 
stand each  other.' 

The  next  day  he  appeared  at  the  doctor's  house  with 
Mr.  Goodriche,  and  two  persons  understood  to  belong 
to  that  reverend  gentleman's  communion.  The  party 
were  shut  up  in  an  apartment  with  the  infant,  and  it 
may  be  presumed  that  the  solemnity  of  baptism  w^as 
administered  to  the  unconscious  being  thus  strangely 
launched  upon  the  world.  When  the  priest  and  witnesses 
had  retired,  the  strange  gentleman  informed  Mr.  Gray 
that,  as  the  lady  had  been  pronounced  unfit  for  travelHng 
for  several  days,  he  was  himself  about  to  leave  the 
neighbourhood,  but  would  return  thither  in  the  space  of 
ten  days,  when  he  hoped  to  find  his  companion  able  to 
leave  it. 

213 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'And  by  what  name  are  we  to  call  the  child  and 
mother? ' 

'The  infant's  name  is  Richard.' 

'But  it  must  have  some  surname;  so  must  the  lady  — 
she  cannot  reside  in  my  house,  yet  be  without  a  name.' 

'Call  them  by  the  name  of  your  town  here  —  Middle- 
mas,  I  think  it  is? ' 

'Yes,  sir.' 

'Well,  Mrs.  Middlemas  is  the  name  of  the  mother,  and 
Richard  Middlemas  of  the  child  —  and  I  am  Matthew 
Middlemas,  at  your  service.  This,'  he  continued,  'will 
provide  Mrs.  Middlemas  in  everything  she  may  wish  to 
possess  —  or  assist  her  in  case  of  accidents.'  With  that 
he  placed  £ioo  in  Mr.  Gray's  hand,  who  rather  scrupled 
receiving  it,  saying, '  He  supposed  the  lady  was  qualified 
to  be  her  own  purse-bearer.' 

'The  worst  in  the  world,  I  assure  you,  doctor,'  replied 
the  stranger.  'If  she  wished  to  change  that  piece  of 
paper,  she  would  scarce  know  how  many  guineas  she 
should  receive  for  it.  No,  Mr.  Gray,  I  assure  you  you 
will  find  Mrs.  Middleton  —  Middlemas  —  what  did  I 
call  her?  —  as  ignorant  of  the  affairs  of  this  world  as 
any  one  you  have  met  with  in  your  practice.  So  you  will 
please  to  be  her  treasurer  and  administrator  for  the 
time,  as  for  a  patient  that  is  incapable  to  look  after  her 
own  affairs.' 

This  was  spoke,  as  it  struck  Dr.  Gray,  in  rather  a 
haughty  and  supercilious  manner.  The  words  intimated 
nothing  in  themselves  more  than  the  same  desire  of 
preserving  incognito  which  might  be  gathered  from  all 
the  rest  of  the  stranger's  conduct ;  but  the  manner  seemed 
to  say,  *  I  am  not  a  person  to  be  questioned  by  any  one. 

214 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

What  I  say  must  be  received  without  comment,  how 
little  soever  you  may  believe  or  understand  it.'  It 
strengthened  Gray  in  his  opinion,  that  he  had  before  him 
a  case  either  of  seduction  or  of  private  marriage,  betwixt 
persons  of  the  very  highest  rank;  and  the  whole  bearing, 
both  of  the  lady  and  the  gentleman,  confirmed  his  sus- 
picions. It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  be  troublesome  or 
inquisitive,  but  he  could  not  fail  to  see  that  the  lady 
wore  no  marriage-ring;  and  her  deep  sorrow  and  perpet- 
ual tremor  seemed  to  indicate  an  unhappy  creature  who 
had  lost  the  protection  of  parents  without  acquiring  a 
legitimate  right  to  that  of  a  husband.  He  was  therefore 
somewhat  anxious  when  Mr.  Middlemas,  after  a  private 
conference  of  some  length  with  the  lady,  bade  him  fare- 
well. It  is  true,  he  assured  him  of  his  return  within  ten 
days,  being  the  very  shortest  space  which  Gray  could  be 
prevailed  upon  to  assign  for  any  prospect  of  the  lady 
being  moved  with  safety. 

*I  trust  in  Heaven  that  he  will  return,'  said  Gray  to 
himself,  'but  there  is  too  much  mystery  about  all  this 
for  the  matter  being  a  plain  and  well-meaning  transac- 
tion. If  he  intends  to  treat  this  poor  thing  as  many  a  poor 
girl  has  been  used  before,  I  hope  that  my  house  will  not 
be  the  scene  in  which  he  chooses  to  desert  her.  The 
leaving  the  money  has  somewhat  a  suspicious  aspect, 
and  looks  as  if  my  friend  were  in  the  act  of  making  some 
compromise  with  his  conscience.  Well,  I  must  hope  the 
best.  Meantime  my  path  plainly  is  to  do  what  I  can 
for  the  poor  lady's  benefit.' 

Mr.  Gray  visited  his  patient  shortly  after  Mr.  Middle- 
mas's  departure  —  as  soon,  indeed,  as  he  could  be 
admitted.    He  found  her  in  violent  agitation.    Gray's 

215 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

experience  dictated  the  best  mode  of  relief  and  tran- 
quillity. He  caused  her  infant  to  be  brought  to  her.  She 
wept  over  it  for  a  long  time,  and  the  violence  of  her 
agitation  subsided  under  the  influence  of  parental  feel- 
ings, which,  from  her  appearance  of  extreme  youth,  she 
must  have  experienced  for  the  first  time. 

The  observant  physician  could,  after  this  paroxysm, 
remark  that  his  patient's  mind  was  chiefly  occupied  in 
computing  the  passage  of  the  time,  and  anticipating  the 
period  when  the  return  of  her  husband  —  if  husband  he 
was  —  might  be  expected.  She  consulted  almanacks, 
inquired  concerning  distances,  though  so  cautiously  as 
to  make  it  evident  she  desired  to  give  no  indication  of  the 
direction  of  her  companion's  journey,  and  repeatedly 
compared  her  watch  with  those  of  others,  exercising,  it 
was  evident,  all  that  delusive  species  of  mental  arithme- 
tic by  which  mortals  attempt  to  accelerate  the  passage 
of  time  while  they  calculate  his  progress.  At  other  times 
she  wept  anew  over  her  child,  which  was  by  all  judges 
pronounced  as  goodly  an  infant  as  needed  to  be  seen; 
and  Gray  sometimes  observed  that  she  murmured  sen- 
tences to  the  unconscious  infant,  not  only  the  words,  but 
the  very  sound  and  accents,  of  which  were  strange  to 
him,  and  which,  in  particular,  he  knew  not  to  be  Portu- 
guese. 

Mr.  Goodriche,  the  Catholic  priest,  demanded  access 
to  her  upon  one  occasion.  She  at  first  declined  his  visit, 
but  afterwards  received  it,  under  the  idea,  perhaps,  that 
he  might  have  news  from  Mr.  Middlemas,  as  he  called 
himself.  The  interview  was  a  very  short  one,  and  the 
priest  left  the  lady's  apartment  in  displeasure,  which  his 
prudence  could  scarce  disguise  from  Mr.  Gray.  He  never 

216 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

returned,  although  the  lady's  condition  would  have 
made  his  attentions  and  consolations  necessary,  had  she 
been  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Our  doctor  began  at  length  to  suspect  his  fair  guest 
was  a  Jewess,  who  had  yielded  up  her  person  and  affec- 
tions to  one  of  a  different  religion ;  and  the  peculiar  style 
of  her  beautiful  countenance  went  to  enforce  this  opin- 
ion. The  circumstance  made  no  difference  to  Gray,  who 
saw  only  her  distress  and  desolation,  and  endeavoured 
to  remedy  both  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  He  was, 
however,  desirous  to  conceal  it  from  his  wife  and  the 
others  around  the  sick  person,  whose  prudence  and 
liberality  of  thinking  might  be  more  justly  doubted.  He 
therefore  so  regulated  her  diet  that  she  could  not  be 
either  offended  or  brought  under  suspicion  by  any  of  the 
articles  forbidden  by  the  Mosaic  law  being  presented  to 
her.  In  other  respects  than  what  concerned  her  health  or 
convenience,  he  had  but  little  intercourse  with  her. 

The  space  passed  within  which  the  stranger's  return 
to  the  borough  had  been  so  anxiously  expected  by  his 
female  companion.  The  disappointment  occasioned  by 
his  non-arrival  was  manifested  in  the  convalescent  by 
inquietude,  which  was  at  first  mingled  with  peevishness, 
and  afterwards  with  doubt  and  fear.  When  two  or  three 
days  had  passed  without  message  or  letter  of  any  kind, 
Gray  himself  became  anxious,  both  on  his  own  account 
and  the  poor  lady's,  lest  the  stranger  should  have  actually 
entertained  the  idea  of  deserting  this  defenceless  and 
probably  injured  woman.  He  longed  to  have  some  com- 
munication with  her,  which  might  enable  him  to  judge 
what  inquiries  could  be  made,  or  what  else  was  most 
fitting  to  be  done.  But  so  imperfect  was  the  poor  young 

217 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

woman's  knowledge  of  the  French  language,  and  perhaps 
so  unwilling  she  herself  to  throw  any  light  on  her  situa- 
tion, that  every  attempt  of  this  kind  proved  abortive. 
When  Gray  asked  questions  concerning  any  subject 
which  appeared  to  approach  to  explanation,  he  observed 
she  usually  answered  him  by  shaking  her  head,  in  token 
of  not  understanding  what  he  said;  at  other  times  by 
silence  and  with  tears,  and  sometimes  referring  him  to 
Monsieur. 

For  Monsieur's  arrival,  then.  Gray  began  to  become 
very  impatient,  as  that  which  alone  could  put  an  end  to 
a  disagreeable  species  of  mystery,  which  the  good  com- 
pany of  the  borough  began  now  to  make  the  principal 
subject  of  their  gossip;  some  blaming  Gray  for  taking 
foreign  'landloupers'  into  his  house,  on  the  subject  of 
whose  morals  the  most  serious  doubts  might  be  enter- 
tained; others  envying  the  'bonny  hand'  the  doctor  was 
like  to  make  of  it,  by  having  disposal  of  the  wealthy 
stranger's  travelling  funds — a  circumstance  which  could 
not  be  well  concealed  from  the  public,  when  the  honest 
man's  expenditure  for  trifling  articles  of  luxury  came  far 
to  exceed  its  ordinary  bounds. 

The  conscious  probity  of  the  honest  doctor  enabled 
him  to  despise  this  sort  of  tittle-tattle,  though  the  secret 
knowledge  of  its  existence  could  not  be  agreeable  to  him. 
He  went  his  usual  rounds  with  his  usual  perseverance, 
and  waited  with  patience  until  time  should  throw  light 
on  the  subject  and  history  of  his  lodger.  It  was  now  the 
fourth  week  after  her  confinement,  and  the  recovery  of 
the  stranger  might  be  considered  as  perfect,  when  Gray, 
returning  from  one  of  his  ten-mile  visits,  saw  a  post- 
chaise  and  four  horses  at  the  door.   '  This  man  has  re- 

218 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

turned,'  he  said,  'and  my  suspicions  have  done  him  less 
than  justice.'  With  that  he  spurred  his  horse,  a  signal 
which  the  trusty  steed  obeyed  the  more  readily  as  its 
progress  was  in  the  direction  of  the  stable  door.  But 
when,  dismounting,  the  doctor  hurried  into  his  own 
house,  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  departure  as  well  as  the 
arrival  of  this  distressed  lady  was  destined  to  bring 
confusion  to  his  peaceful  dwelling.  Several  idlers  had 
assembled  about  his  door,  and  two  or  three  had  impu- 
dently thrust  themselves  forward  almost  into  the  pas- 
sage to  listen  to  a  confused  altercation  which  was  heard 
from  within. 

The  doctor  hastened  forward,  the  foremost  of  the 
intruders  retreating  in  confusion  on  his  approach,  while 
he  caught  the  tones  of  his  wife's  voice,  raised  to  a  pitch 
which  he  knew  by  experience  boded  no  good;  for  Mrs. 
Gray,  good-humoured  and  tractable  in  general,  could 
sometimes  perform  the  high  part  in  a  matrimonial  duet. 
Having  much  more  confidence  in  his  wife's  good  inten- 
tions than  her  prudence,  he  lost  no  time  in  pushing  into 
the  parlour,  to  take  the  matter  into  his  own  hands.  Here 
he  found  his  helpmate  at  the  head  of  the  whole  militia 
of  the  sick  lady's  apartment  —  that  is,  wet-nurse,  and 
sick-nurse,  and  girl  of  all  work  —  engaged  in  violent  dis- 
pute with  two  strangers.  The  one  was  a  dark-featured 
elderly  man,  with  an  eye  of  much  sharpness  and  severity 
of  expression,  which  now  seemed  partly  quenched  by  a 
mixture  of  grief  and  mortification.  The  other,  who  ap- 
peared actively  sustaining  the  dispute  with  Mrs.  Gray, 
was  a  stout,  bold-looking,  hard-faced  person,  armed 
with  pistols,  of  which  he  made  rather  an  unnecessary 
and  ostentatious  display. 

219 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'  Here  is  my  husband,  sir,'  said  Mrs.  Gray,  in  a  tone  of 
triumph,  for  she  had  the  grace  to  believe  the  doctor  one 
of  the  greatest  men  living  —  'here  is  the  doctor;  let  us 
see  what  you  will  say  now.' 

'Why,  just  what  I  said  before,  ma'am,'  answered  the 
man,  'which  is,  that  my  warrant  must  be  obeyed.  It  is 
regular,  ma'am  —  regular.' 

So  saying,  he  struck  the  forefinger  of  his  right  hand 
against  a  paper  which  he  held  towards  Mrs.  Gray  with 
his  left. 

'Address  yourself  to  me,  if  you  please,  sir,'  said  the 
doctor,  seeing  that  he  ought  to  lose  no  time  in  removing 
the  cause  into  the  proper  court.  'I  am  the  master  of 
this  house,  sir,  and  I  wish  to  know  the  cause  of  this 
visit.' 

'My  business  is  soon  told,'  said  the  man.  'I  am  a 
king's  messenger,  and  this  lady  has  treated  me  as  if  I 
was  a  baron-baihe's  oiSScer.' 

'That  is  not  the  question,  sir,'  replied  the  doctor.  'If 
you  are  a  king's  messenger,  where  is  your  warrant,  and 
what  do  you  propose  to  do  here? '  At  the  same  time  he 
whispered  the  little  wench  to  call  Mr.  Lawford,  the 
town-clerk,  to  come  thither  as  fast  as  he  possibly  could. 
The  good-daughter  of  Peg  Thomson  started  off  with  an 
activity  worthy  of  her  mother-in-law. 

'There  is  my  warrant,'  said  the  ofiicial,  'and  you  may 
satisfy  yourself.' 

'  The  shameless  loon  dare  not  tell  the  doctor  his  errand,' 
said  Mrs.  Gray,  exultingly. 

'A  bonny  errand  it  is,'  said  old  Luckie  Simson,  'to 
carry  away  a  lying-in  woman,  as  a  gled  would  do  a 
clocking-hen.' 

220 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

'A  woman  no  a  month  delivered,'  echoed  the  nurse 
Jamieson. 

*  Twenty-four  days  eight  hours  and  seven  minutes  to  a 
second,'  said  Mrs.  Gray. 

The  doctor,  having  looked  over  the  warrant,  which 
was  regular,  began  to  be  afraid  that  the  females  of  his 
family,  in  their  zeal  for  defending  the  character  of  their 
sex,  might  be  stirred  up  into  some  sudden  fit  of  mutiny, 
and  therefore  commanded  them  to  be  silent. 

'This,'  he  said,  'is  a  warrant  for  arresting  the  bodies 
of  Richard  Treshamand  of  Zilia  deMongada,  on  account 
of  high  treason.  Sir,  I  have  served  his  Majesty,  and  this 
is  not  a  house  in  which  traitors  are  harboured.  I  know 
nothing  of  any  of  these  two  persons,  nor  have  I  ever 
heard  even  their  names.' 

'But  the  lady  whom  you  have  received  into  your 
family,'  said  the  messenger,  'is  Ziha  de  Mongada,  and 
here  stands  her  father,  Matthias  de  Mongada,  who  will 
make  oath  to  it.' 

'If  this  be  true,'  said  Mr.  Gray,  looking  towards  the 
alleged  officer,  'you  have  taken  a  singular  duty  on  you. 
It  is  neither  my  habit  to  deny  my  own  actions  nor  to 
oppose  the  laws  of  the  land.  There  is  a  lady  in  this  house 
slowly  recovering  from  confinement,  having  become  un- 
der this  roof  the  mother  of  a  healthy  child.  If  she  be 
the  person  described  in  this  warrant,  and  this  gentle- 
man's daughter,  I  must  surrender  her  to  the  laws  of  the 
country.' 

Here  the  Esculapian  militia  were  once  more  in  motion. 

'  Surrender,  Dr.  Gray !  It 's  a  shame  to  hear  you  speak, 
and  you  that  lives  by  women  and  weans,  abune  your 
other  means ! '  so  exclaimed  his  fair  better  part. 

221 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*I  wonder  to  hear  the  doctor!'  said  the  younger  nurse; 
^there's  no  a  wife  in  the  town  would  believe  it  o'  him.' 

'  I  aye  thought  the  doctor  was  a  man  till  this  moment,' 
said  Luckie  Simson ; '  but  I  believe  him  now  to  be  an  auld 
wife,  little  baulder  than  mysell;  and  I  dinna  wonder  now 
that  poor  Mrs.  Gray  — ' 

'  Hold  your  peace,  you  foolish  women,'  said  the  doctor. 
*  Do  you  think  this  business  is  not  bad  enough  already, 
that  you  are  making  it  worse  with  your  senseless  claver? 
Gentlemen,  this  is  a  very  sad  case.  Here  is  a  warrant  for 
a  high  crime  against  a  poor  creature  who  is  little  fit  to  be 
moved  from  one  house  to  another,  much  more  dragged 
to  a  prison.  I  tell  you  plainly,  that  I  think  the  execution 
of  this  arrest  may  cause  her  death.  It  is  your  business, 
sir,  if  you  be  really  her  father,  to  consider  what  you  can 
do  to  soften  this  matter  rather  than  drive  it  on.' 

'Better  death  than  dishonour,'  replied  the  stern- 
looking  old  man,  with  a  voice  as  harsh  as  his  aspect ; '  and 
you,  messenger,'  he  continued,  'look  what  you  do,  and 
execute  the  warrant  at  your  peril.' 

'You  hear,'  said  the  man,  appealing  to  the  doctor 
himself,  'I  must  have  immediate  access  to  the  lady.' 

'In  a  lucky  time,'  said  Mr.  Gray,  'here  comes  the 
town-clerk.  Youare  very  welcome,  Mr.  Lawford.  Your 
opinion  here  is  much  wanted  as  a  man  of  law,  as  well  as 
of  sense  and  humanity.  I  was  never  more  glad  to  see 
you  in  all  my  life.' 

He  then  rapidly  stated  the  case;  and  the  messenger, 
understanding  the  new-comer  to  be  a  man  of  some 
authority,  again  exhibited  his  warrant. 

'This  is  a  very  sufficient  and  valid  warrant.  Dr.  Gray,' 
replied  the  man  of  law.   'Nevertheless,  if  you  are  dis- 

222 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

posed  to  make  oath  that  instant  removal  would  be 
unfavourable  to  the  lady's  health,  unquestionably  she 
must  remain  here,  suitably  guarded.' 

'  It  is  not  so  much  the  mere  act  of  locomotion  which  I 
am  afraid  of/  said  the  surgeon;  'but  I  am  free  to  depone, 
on  soul  and  conscience,  that  the  shame  and  fear  of  her 
father's  anger,  and  the  sense  of  the  affront  of  such  an 
arrest,  with  terror  for  its  consequences,  may  occasion 
violent  and  dangerous  illness  —  even  death  itself.' 

'  The  father  must  see  the  daughter,  though  they  may 
have  quarrelled,' said  Mr.Lawford;  'the  officer  of  justice 
must  execute  his  warrant,  though  it  should  frighten  the 
criminal  to  death;  these  evils  are  only  contingent,  not 
direct  and  immediate  consequences.  You  must  give  up 
the  lady,  Mr.  Gray,  though  your  hesitation  is  very 
natural.' 

'At  least,  Mr.  Lawford,  I  ought  to  be  certain  that  the 
person  in  my  house  is  the  party  they  search  for.' 

'Admit  me  to  her  apartment,'  replied  the  man  whom 
the  messenger  termed  Mongada. 

The  messenger,  whom  the  presence  of  Lawford  had 
made  something  more  placid,  began  to  become  impudent 
once  more.  He  hoped,  he  said,  by  means  of  his  female 
prisoner,  to  acquire  the  information  necessary  to  appre- 
hend the  more  guilty  person.  If  more  delays  were  thrown 
in  his  way,  that  information  might  come  too  late,  and  he 
would  make  all  who  were  accessory  to  such  delay  respon- 
sible for  the  consequences. 

'And  I,'  said  Mr.  Gray,  'though  I  were  to  be  brought 
to  the  gallows  for  it,  protest  that  this  course  may  be  the 
murder  of  my  patient.  Can  bail  not  be  taken,  Mr.  Law- 
ford?' 

223 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Not  in  cases  of  high  treason,'  said  the  official  person; 
and  then  continued  in  a  confidential  tone,  'Come,  Mr. 
Gray,  we  all  know  you  to  be  a  person  well  affected  to  our 
royal  sovereign  King  George  and  the  Government;  but 
you  must  not  push  this  too  far,  lest  you  bring  yourself 
into  trouble,  which  everybody  in  Middlemas  would  be 
sorry  for.  The  forty-five  has  not  been  so  far  gone  by 
but  we  can  remember  enough  of  warrants  of  high  treason 
— ay,  and  ladies  of  quality  cormnitted  upon  such  charges. 
But  they  were  all  favourably  dealt  with  —  Lady  Ogilvy, 
Lady  Macintosh,  Flora  Macdonald,  and  all.  No  doubt 
this  gentleman  knows  what  he  is  doing,  and  has  assur- 
ances of  the  young  lady's  safety.  So  you  must  just  jouk 
and  let  the  jaw  gae  by,  as  we  say.' 

'Follow  me,  then,  gentlemen,'  said  Gideon,  'and  you 
shall  see  the  young  lady ' ;  and  then,  his  strong  features 
working  with  emotion  at  anticipation  of  the  distress 
which  he  was  about  to  inflict,  he  led  the  way  up  the  small 
staircase,  and,  opening  the  door,  said  to  Mongada,  who 
had  followed  him,  'This  is  your  daughter's  only  place  of 
refuge,  in  which  I  am,  alas !  too  weak  to  be  her  protector. 
Enter,  sir,  if  your  conscience  will  permit  you.' 

The  stranger  turned  on  him  a  scowl,  into  which  it 
seemed  as  if  he  would  willingly  have  thrown  the  power 
of  the  fabled  basilisk.  Then  stepping  proudly  forward, 
he  stalked  into  the  room.  He  was  followed  by  Lawford 
and  Gray  at  a  little  distance.  The  messenger  remained 
in  the  doorway.  The  unhappy  young  woman  had  heard 
the  disturbance,  and  guessed  the  cause  too  truly.  It  is 
possible  she  might  even  have  seen  the  strangers  on  their 
descent  from  the  carriage.  When  they  entered  the  room 
she  was  on  her  knees,  beside  an  easy-chair,  her  face  in  a 

224 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

silk  wrapper  that  was  hung  over  it.  The  man  called 
Mongada  uttered  a  single  word;  by  the  accent  it  might 
have  been  something  equivalent  to  'wretch,'  but  none 
knew  its  import.  The  female  gave  a  convulsive  shudder, 
such  as  that  by  which  a  half-dying  soldier  is  affected  on 
receiving  a  second  wound.  But,  without  minding  her 
emotion,  Mongada  seized  her  by  the  arm,  and  with  little 
gentleness  raised  her  to  her  feet,  on  which  she  seemed  to 
stand  only  because  she  was  supported  by  his  strong 
grasp.  He  then  pulled  from  her  face  the  mask  which  she 
had  hitherto  worn.  The  poor  creature  still  endeavoured 
to  shroud  her  face,  by  covering  it  with  her  left  hand,  as 
the  manner  in  which  she  was  held  prevented  her  from 
using  the  aid  of  the  right.  With  little  effort  her  father 
secured  that  hand  also,  which,  indeed,  was  of  itself  far 
too  little  to  serve  the  purpose  of  concealment,  and 
showed  her  beautiful  face,  burning  with  blushes  and 
covered  with  tears. 

'You,  alcalde,  and  you,  surgeon,'  he  said  to  Lawford 
and  Gray,  with  a  foreign  action  and  accent, '  this  woman 
is  my  daughter,  the  same  Zilia  Mongada  who  is  signalled 
in  that  protocol.  Make  way,  and  let  me  carry  her  where 
her  crimes  may  be  atoned  for.' 

'  Are  you  that  person's  daughter? '  said  Lawford  to  the 
lady. 

'  She  understands  no  English,'  said  Gray;  and  address- 
ing his  patient  in  French,  conjured  her  to  let  him  know 
whether  she  was  that  man's  daughter  or  not,  assuring 
her  of  protection  if  the  fact  were  otherwise.  The  answer 
was  murmured  faintly,  but  was  too  distinctly  intelligible 
—  'He  was  her  father.' 

All  further  title  of  interference  seemed  now  ended, 

44  225 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  messenger  arrested  his  prisoner,  and,  with  some 
delicacy,  required  the  assistance  of  the  females  to  get  her 
conveyed  to  the  carriage  in  waiting. 

Gray  again  interfered.  *You  will  not,'  he  said,  'sepa- 
rate the  mother  and  the  infant? ' 

Zilia  de  Mongada  heard  the  question  (which,  being 
addressed  to  the  father.  Gray  had  inconsiderately  ut- 
tered in  French),  and  it  seemed  as  if  it  recalled  to  her 
recollection  the  existence  of  the  helpless  creature  to 
which  she  had  given  birth,  forgotten  for  a  moment 
amongst  the  accumulated  horrors  of  her  father's  pres- 
ence. She  uttered  a  shriek,  expressing  poignant  grief, 
and  turned  her  eyes  on  her  father  with  the  most  intense 
supplication. 

'To  the  parish  with  the  bastard!'  said  Mongada; 
while  the  helpless  mother  sunk  lifeless  into  the  arms  of 
the  females,  who  had  now  gathered  round  her. 

'That  will  not  pass,  sir,'  said  Gideon.  'If  you  are 
father  to  that  lady,  you  must  be  grandfather  to  the  help- 
less child;  and  you  must  settle  in  some  manner  for  its 
future  provision,  or  refer  us  to  some  responsible  per- 
son.' 

Mongada  looked  towards  Lawford,  who  expressed 
himself  satisfied  of  the  propriety  of  what  Gray  said. 

'  I  object  not  to  pay  for  whatever  the  wretched  child 
may  require,'  said  he;  'and  if  you,  sir,'  addressing  Gray, 
'choose  to  take  charge  of  him,  and  breed  him  up,  you 
shall  have  what  will  better  your  hving.' 

The  doctor  was  about  to  refuse  a  charge  so  uncivilly 
offered;  but  after  a  moment's  reflection  he  replied,  'I 
think  so  indifferently  of  the  proceedings  I  have  wit- 
nessed, and  of   those  concerned  in  them,  that,  if  the 

226 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

mother  desires  that  I  should  retain  the  charge  of  this 
child,  I  will  not  refuse  to  do  so.' 

Mongada  spoke  to  his  daughter,  who  was  just  begin- 
ning to  recover  from  her  swoon,  in  the  same  language  in 
which  he  had  first  addressed  her.  The  proposition  which 
he  made  seemed  highly  acceptable,  as  she  started  from 
the  arms  of  the  females,  and,  advancing  to  Gray,  seized 
his  hand,  kissed  it,  bathed  it  in  her  tears,  and  seemed 
reconciled,  even  in  parting  with  her  child,  by  the  con- 
sideration that  the  infant  was  to  remain  under  his 
guardianship. 

'  Good,  kind  man,'  she  said  in  her  indifferent  French, 
'you  have  saved  both  mother  and  child.' 

The  father,  meanwhile,  with  mercantile  deliberation, 
placed  in  Mr.  Lawford's  hands  notes  and  bills  to  the 
amount  of  a  thousand  pounds,  which  he  stated  was  to  be 
vested  for  the  child's  use,  and  advanced  in  such  portions 
as  his  board  and  education  might  require.  In  the  event 
of  any  correspondence  on  his  account  being  necessary,  as 
in  case  of  death  or  the  like,  he  directed  that  communi- 
cation should  be  made  to  Signior  Matthias  Mongada, 
under  cover  to  a  certain  banking-house  in  London. 

'But  beware,'  he  said  to  Gray,  'how  you  trouble  me 
about  these  concerns,  unless  in  case  of  absolute  neces- 
sity.' 

'You  need  not  fear,  sir,'  replied  Gray:  'I  have  seen 
nothing  to-day  which  can  induce  me  to  desire  a  more 
intimate  correspondence  with  you  than  may  be  indis- 
pensable.' 

While  Lawford  drew  up  a  proper  minute  of  this  trans- 
action, by  which  he  himself  and  Gray  were  named  trus- 
tees for  the  child,  Mr.  Gray  attempted  to  restore  to  the 

227 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

lady  the  balance  of  the  considerable  sum  of  money  which 
Tresham  (if  such  was  his  real  name)  had  formerly  depos- 
ited with  him.  With  every  species  of  gesture  by  which 
hands,  eyes,  and  even  feet,  could  express  rejection,  as 
well  as  in  her  own  broken  French,  she  repelled  the  pro- 
posal of  reimbursement,  while  she  entreated  that  Gray 
would  consider  the  money  as  his  own  property;  and  at 
the  same  time  forced  upon  him  a  ring  set  with  brilliants, 
which  seemed  of  considerable  value.  The  father  then 
spoke  to  her  a  few  stem  words,  which  she  heard  with  an 
air  of  mingled  agony  and  submission. 

'  I  have  given  her  a  few  minutes  to  see  and  weep  over 
the  miserable  being  which  has  been  the  seal  of  her  dis- 
honour,' said  the  stern  father.  'Let  us  retire  and  leave 
her  alone.  You,'  to  the  messenger,  'watch  the  door  of 
the  room  on  the  outside.' 

Gray,  Lawford,  and  Mongada  retired  to  the  parlour 
accordingly,  where  they  waited  in  silence,  each  busied 
with  his  own  reflections,  till,  within  the  space  of  half  an 
hour,  they  received  information  that  the  lady  was  ready 
to  depart. 

'It  is  well,'  replied  Mongada;  'I  am  glad  she  has  yet 
sense  enough  left  to  submit  to  that  which  needs  must  be.' 

So  saying,  he  ascended  the  stair,  and  returned,  lead- 
ing down  his  daughter,  now  again  masked  and  veiled. 
As  she  passed  Gray  she  uttered  the  words, '  My  child  — 
my  child!'  in  a  tone  of  unutterable  anguish;  then  en- 
tered the  carriage,  which  was  drawn  up  as  close  to  the 
door  of  the  doctor's  house  as  the  Httle  inclosure  would 
permit.  The  messenger,  mounted  on  a  led  horse,  and 
accompanied  by  a  servant  and  assistant,  followed  the 
carriage,  which  drove  rapidly  off,  taking  the  road  which 

228 


THE   SURGEON'S   DAUGHTER 

leads  to  Edinburgh.  All  who  had  witnessed  this  strange 
scene  now  departed  to  make  their  conjectures,  and 
some  to  count  their  gains;  for  money  had  been  distrib- 
uted among  the  females  who  had  attended  on  the  lady 
with  so  much  Hberality  as  considerably  to  reconcile 
them  to  the  breach  of  the  rights  of  womanhood  inflicted 
by  the  precipitate  removal  of  the  patient. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  last  cloud  of  dust  which  the  wheels  of  the  carriage 
had  raised  was  dissipated,  when  dinner,  which  claims  a 
share  of  human  thoughts  even  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
marvellous  and  affecting  incidents,  recurred  to  those  of 
Mrs.  Gray. 

'Indeed,  doctor,  you  will  stand  glowering  out  of  the 
window  till  some  other  patient  calls  for  you,  and  then 
have  to  set  off  without  your  dinner.  And  I  hope  Mr. 
Lawford  will  take  pot-luck  with  us,  for  it  is  just  his  own 
hour;  and  indeed  we  had  something  rather  better  than 
ordinary  for  this  poor  lady  —  lamb  and  spinage  and  a 
veal  florentine.' 

The  surgeon  started  as  from  a  dream,  and  joined  in 
his  wife 's  hospitable  request,  to  which  Lawford  wiUingly 
assented. 

We  will  suppose  the  meal  finished,  a  bottle  of  old  and 
generous  Antigua  upon  the  table,  and  a  modest  little 
punch-bowl  judiciously  replenished  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  doctor  and  his  guest.  Their  conversation 
naturally  turned  on  the  strange  scene  which  they  had 
witnessed,  and  the  town-clerk  took  considerable  merit 
for  his  presence  of  mind. 

'I  am  thinking,  doctor,'  said  he,  'you  might  have 
brewed  a  bitter  browst  to  yourself  if  I  had  not  come  in 
as  I  did.' 

'Troth,  and  it  might  very  well  so  be,'  answered  Gray; 
'for,  to  tell  the  truth,  when  I  saw  yonder  fellow  vapour- 

230 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

ing  with  his  pistols  among  the  women  folk  in  my  own 
house,  the  old  Cameronian  spirit  began  to  rise  in  me,  and 
little  thing  would  have  made  me  cleek  to  the  poker.' 

'Hoot  —  hoot!  that  would  never  have  done.  Na  — 
na,'  said  the  man  of  law,  'this  was  a  case  where  a  little 
prudence  was  worth  all  the  pistols  and  pokers  in  the 
world.' 

'  And  that  was  just  what  I  thought  when  I  sent  to  you, 
Clerk  Lawford,'  said  the  doctor. 

'A  wiser  man  he  could  not  have  called  on  to  a  difficult 
case,'  added  Mrs.  Gray,  as  she  sat  with  her  work  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  table. 

'Thanks  t  'ye,  and  here's  t  'ye,  my  good  neighbour,' 
answered  the  scribe ; '  will  you  not  let  me  help  you  to  an- 
other glass  of  punch,  Mrs.  Gray? '  This  being  declined, 
he  proceeded.  'I  am  jalousing  that  the  messenger  and 
his  warrant  were  just  brought  in  to  prevent  any  opposi- 
tion. Ye  saw  how  quietly  he  behaved  after  I  had  laid 
down  the  law;  I'll  never  believe  the  lady  is  in  any  risk 
from  him.  But  the  father  is  a  dour  chield;  depend  upon 
it,  he  has  bred  up  the  young  filly  on  the  curb-rein,  and 
that  has  made  the  poor  thing  start  off  the  course.  I 
should  not  be  surprised  that  he  took  her  abroad  and 
shut  her  up  in  a  convent,' 

'Hardly,'  replied  Dr.  Gray,  'if  it  be  true,  as  I  suspect, 
that  both  the  father  and  daughter  are  of  the  Jewish  per- 
suasion.' 

'A  Jew!'  said  Mrs.  Gray,  'and  have  I  been  taking  a' 
this  fyke  about  a  Jew?  I  thought  she  seemed  to  gie  a 
scunner  at  the  eggs  and  bacon  that  Nurse  Simson  spoke 
about  to  her.  But  I  thought  Jews  had  aye  had  lang 
beards,  and  yon  man's  face  is  just  like  one  of  our  ain 

231 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

folks.'  I  have  seen  the  doctor  with  a  langer  beard  him- 
sell,  when  he  has  not  had  leisure  to  shave.' 

'That  might  have  been  Mr.  Mongada's  case,'  said 
Lawford,  '  for  he  seemed  to  have  had  a  hard  journey. 
But  the  Jews  are  often  very  respectable  people,  Mrs. 
Gray ;  they  have  no  territorial  property,  because  the  law 
is  against  them  there,  but  they  have  a  good  hank  in  the 
money  market  —  plenty  of  stock  in  the  funds,  Mrs. 
Gray;  and,  indeed,  I  think  this  poor  young  woman  is 
better  with  her  ain  father,  though  he  be  a  Jew  and  a 
dour  chield  into  the  bargain,  than  she  would  have  been 
with  the  loon  that  wranged  her,  who  is,  by  your  account, 
Dr.  Gray,  baith  a  Papist  and  a  rebel.  The  Jews  are  well 
attached  to  government ;  they  hate  the  Pope,  the  Devil, 
and  the  Pretender  as  much  as  any  honest  man  among 
ourselves.' 

'I  cannot  admire  either  of  the  gentlemen,'  said  Gideon. 
*But  it  is  but  fair  to  say,  that  I  saw  Mr.  Mongada  when 
he  was  highly  incensed,  and  to  all  appearance  not  with- 
out reason.  Now,  this  other  man,  Tresham,  if  that  be 
his  name,  was  haughty  to  me,  and  I  think  something 
careless  of  the  poor  young  woman,  just  at  the  time  when 
he  owed  her  most  kindness,  and  me  some  thankfulness. 
I  am,  therefore,  of  your  opinion.  Clerk  Lawford,  that 
the  Christian  is  the  worse  bargain  of  the  two.' 

'  And  you  think  of  taking  care  of  this  wean  yourself, 
doctor?    That  is  what  I  call  the  good  Samaritan.' 

'At  cheap  cost,  clerk:  the  child,  if  it  lives,  has  enough 
to  bring  it  up  decently,  and  set  it  out  in  Hfe,  and  I  can 
teach  it  an  honourable  and  useful  profession.  It  will  be 
rather  an  amusement  than  a  trouble  to  me,  and  I  want 
to  make  some  remarks  on  the  childish  diseases,  which, 

232 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

with  God's  blessing,  the  child  must  come  through  under 
my  charge;  and  since  Heaven  has  sent  us  no  children  — ' 

'  Hoot  —  hoot ! '  said  the  town-clerk,  *  you  are  in  ower 
great  a  hurry  now  —  you  havena  been  sae  lang  married 
yet.  Mrs.  Gray,  dinna  let  my  daffing  chase  you  away; 
we  will  be  for  a  dish  of  tea  beHve,  for  the  doctor  and  I 
are  nae  glass-breakers.' 

Four  years  after  this  conversation  took  place  the  event 
happened  at  the  possibiUty  of  which  the  town-clerk  had 
"hinted;  and  Mrs.  Gray  presented  her  husband  with  an 
infant  daughter.  But  good  and  evil  are  strangely  min- 
gled in  this  sublunary  world.  The  fulfilment  of  his  anx- 
ious longing  for  posterity  was  attended  with  the  loss  of 
his  simple  and  kind-hearted  wife,  one  of  the  most  heavy 
blows  which  fate  could  inflict  on  poor  Gideon,  and  his 
house  was  made  desolate  even  by  the  event  which  had 
promised  for  months  before  to  add  new  comforts  to  its 
humble  roof.  Gray  felt  the  shock  as  men  of  sense  and 
firmness  feel  a  decided  blow,  from  the  effects  of  which 
they  never  hope  again  fully  to  raise  themselves.  He  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  his  profession  with  the  same  punc- 
tuahty  as  ever,  was  easy,  and  even  to  appearance  cheer- 
ful, in  his  intercourse  with  society;  but  the  sunshine  of 
existence  was  gone.  Every  morning  he  missed  the  affec- 
tionate charges  wliich  recommended  to  him  to  pay  atten- 
tion to  his  own  health  while  he  was  labouring  to  restore 
that  blessing  to  his  patients.  Every  evening,  as  he  re- 
turned from  his  weary  round,  it  was  without  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  kind  and  affectionate  reception  from  one 
eager  to  tell,  and  interested  to  hear,  all  the  little  events 
of  the  day.  His  whistle,  wliich  used  to  arise  clear  and 
strong  so  soon  as  Middlemas  steeple  was  in  view,  was 

233 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

now  for  ever  silenced,  and  the  rider's  head  drooped, 
while  the  tired  horse,  lacking  the  stimulus  of  his  mas- 
ter's hand  and  voice,  seemed  to  shuffle  along  as  if  it  ex- 
perienced a  share  of  his  despondency.  There  were  times 
when  he  was  so  much  dejected  as  to  be  unable  to  endure 
even  the  presence  of  his  little  Menie,  in  whose  infant 
countenance  he  could  trace  the  lineaments  of  the  mother, 
of  whose  loss  she  had  been  the  innocent  and  unconscious 
cause.  'Had  it  not  been  for  this  poor  child  — '  he  would 
think;  but,  instantly  aware  that  the  sentiment  was  sin- 
ful, he  would  snatch  the  infant  to  his  breast  and  load  it 
with  caresses,  then  hastily  desire  it  to  be  removed  from 
the  parlour. 

The  Mahometans  have  a  fanciful  idea  that  the  true 
believer,  in  his  passage  to  Paradise,  is  under  the  necessity 
of  passing  barefooted  over  a  bridge  composed  of  red-hot 
iron.  But  on  this  occasion  all  the  pieces  of  paper  which 
the  Moslem  has  preserved  during  his  Ufe,  lest  some  holy 
thing  being  written  upon  them  might  be  profaned,  ar- 
range themselves  between  his  feet  and  the  burning  metal, 
and  so  save  him  from  injury.  In  the  same  manner,  the 
effects  of  kind  and  benevolent  actions  are  sometimes 
found,  even  in  this  world,  to  assuage  the  pangs  of  sub- 
sequent afflictions. 

Thus,  the  greatest  consolation  which  poor  Gideon 
could  find  after  his  heavy  deprivation  was  in  the  froUc 
fondness  of  Richard  Middlemas,  the  child  who  was  in  so 
singular  a  manner  thrown  upon  his  charge.  Even  at  this 
early  age  he  was  eminently  handsome.  When  silent  or 
out  of  humour,  his  dark  eyes  and  striking  countenance 
presented  some  recollections  of  the  stern  character  im- 
printed on  the  features  of  his  supposed  father;  but  when 

234 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

he  was  gay  and  happy,  which  was  much  more  frequently 
the  case,  these  clouds  were  exchanged  for  the  most 
froHcsome,  mirthful  expression  that  ever  dwelt  on  the 
laughing  and  thoughtless  aspect  of  a  child.  He  seemed 
to  have  a  tact  beyond  his  years  in  discovering  and  con- 
forming to  the  peculiarities  of  human  character.  His 
nurse,  one  prime  object  of  Richard's  observance,  was 
Nurse  Jamieson,  or,  as  she  was  more  commonly  called 
for  brevity,  and  par  excellence,  Nurse.  This  was  the  per- 
son who  had  brought  him  up  from  infancy.  She  had  lost 
her  own  child,  and  soon  after  her  husband,  and  being 
thus  a  lone  woman,  had,  as  used  to  be  common  in  Scot- 
land, remained  a  member  of  Dr.  Gray's  family.  After 
the  death  of  his  wife,  she  gradually  obtained  the  princi- 
pal superintendence  of  the  whole  household;  and  being 
an  honest  and  capable  manager,  was  a  person  of  very 
great  importance  in  the  family. 

She  was  bold  in  her  temper,  violent  in  her  feelings,  and, 
as  often  happens  with  those  in  her  condition,  was  as 
much  attached  to  Richard  Middlemas,  whom  she  had 
once  nursed  at  her  bosom,  as  if  he  had  been  her  own  son. 
This  affection  the  child  repaid  by  all  the  tender  atten- 
tions of  which  his  age  was  capable. 

Little  Dick  was  also  distinguished  by  the  fondest  and 
kindest  attachment  to  his  guardian  and  benefactor,  Dr. 
Gray.  He  was  officious  in  the  right  time  and  place,  quiet 
as  a  lamb  when  his  patron  seemed  incHned  to  study  or  to 
muse,  active  and  assiduous  to  assist  or  divert  him  when- 
ever it  seemed  to  be  wished,  and,  in  choosing  his  oppor- 
tunities, he  seemed  to  display  an  address  far  beyond  his 
childish  years. 

As  time  passed  on,  this  pleasing  character  seemed  to 

23s 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

be  still  more  refined.  In  everything  like  exercise  or 
amusement  he  was  the  pride  and  the  leader  of  the  boys 
of  the  place,  over  the  most  of  whom  his  strength  and 
activity  gave  him  a  decided  superiority.  At  school  his 
abilities  were  less  distinguished,  yet  he  was  a  favourite 
with  the  master,  a  sensible  and  useful  teacher. 

'Richard  is  not  swift,'  he  used  to  say  to  his  patron. 
Dr.  Gray,  'but  then  he  is  sure;  and  it  is  impossible  not  to 
be  pleased  with  a  child  who  is  so  very  desirous  to  give 
satisfaction.' 

Young  Middlemas's  grateful  affection  to  his  patron 
seemed  to  increase  with  the  expanding  of  his  faculties, 
and  found  a  natural  and  pleasing  mode  of  displaying 
itself  in  his  attentions  to  little  Menie^  Gray.  Her  slight- 
est hint  was  Richard's  law,  and  it  was  in  vain  that 
he  was  summoned  forth  by  a  hundred  shrill  voices  to 
take  the  lead  in  hye-spye  or  at  football  if  it  was  little 
Menie's  pleasure  that  he  should  remain  within  and 
build  card-houses  for  her  amusement.  At  other  times, 
he  would  take  the  charge  of  the  little  damsel  entirely 
under  his  own  care,  and  be  seen  wandering  with  her  on 
the  borough  common,  collecting  wild  flowers  or  knitting 
caps  made  of  bulrushes.  Menie  was  attached  to  Dick 
Middlemas  in  proportion  to  his  affectionate  assiduities; 
and  the  father  saw  with  pleasure  every  new  mark  of  at- 
tention to  his  child  on  the  part  of  his  protege. 

During  the  time  that  Richard  was  silently  advancing 
from  a  beautiful  child  into  a  fine  boy,  and  approaching 
from  a  fine  boy  to  the  time  when  he  must  be  termed  a 
handsome  youth,  Mr.  Gray  wrote  twice  a  year  with 
much  regularity  to  Mr.  Mon^ada,  through  the  channel 

1  Marion. 
236 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

that  gentleman  had  pointed  out.  The  benevolent  man 
thought  that,  if  the  wealthy  grandfather  could  only  see 
his  relative,  of  whom  any  family  might  be  proud,  he 
would  be  unable  to  persevere  in  his  resolution  of  treating 
as  an  outcast  one  so  nearly  connected  with  him  in  blood, 
and  so  interesting  in  person  and  disposition.  He  thought 
it  his  duty,  therefore,  to  keep  open  the  slender  and 
oblique  communication  with  the  boy's  maternal  grand- 
father, as  that  which  might,  at  some  future  period,  lead 
to  a  closer  connexion.  Yet  the  correspondence  could  not, 
in  other  respects,  be  agreeable  to  a  man  of  spirit  hke  Mr. 
Gray.  His  own  letters  were  as  short  as  possible,  merely 
rendering  an  account  of  his  ward's  expenses,  including 
a  moderate  board  to  himself,  attested  by  Mr.  Lawford, 
his  co-trustee;  and  intimating  Richard's  state  of  health, 
and  his  progress  in  education,  with  a  few  words  of  brief 
but  warm  eulogy  upon  his  goodness  of  head  and  heart. 
But  the  answers  he  received  were  still  shorter.  'Mr. 
Monfada,'  such  was  their  usual  tenor,  'acknowledges 
Mr.  Gray's  letter  of  such  a  date,  notices  the  contents, 
and  requests  Mr.  Gray  to  persist  in  the  plan  which  he 
has  hitherto  prosecuted  on  the  subject  of  their  corre- 
spondence.' On  occasions  where  extraordinary  expenses 
seemed  likely  to  be  incurred,  the  remittances  were  made 
with  readiness. 

That  day  fortnight  after  Mrs.  Gray's  death,  fifty 
pounds  were  received,  with  a  note,  intimating  that  it  was 
designed  to  put  the  child  R.  M.  into  proper  mourning. 
The  writer  had  added  two  or  three  words,  desiring  that 
the  surplus  should  be  at  Mr.  Gray's  disposal,  to  meet  the 
additional  expenses  of  this  period  of  calamity;  but  Mr. 
Mon^ada  had  left  the  phrase  unfinished,  apparently  in 

237 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

despair  of  turning  it  suitably  into  English.  Gideon,  with- 
out further  investigation,  quietly  added  the  sum  to  the 
account  of  his  ward's  little  fortune,  contrary  to  the  opin- 
ion of  Mr.  Lawford,  who,  aware  that  he  was  rather  a  loser 
than  a  gainer  by  the  boy's  residence  in  his  house,  was 
desirous  that  his  friend  should  not  omit  an  opportunity 
of  recovering  some  part  of  his  expenses  on  that  score. 
But  Gray  was  proof  against  all  remonstrance. 

As  the  boy  advanced  towards  his  fourteenth  year,  Dr. 
Gray  wrote  a  more  elaborate  account  of  his  ward's  char- 
acter, acquirements,  and  capacity.  He  added,  that  he 
did  this  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Mr.  Mongada  to 
judge  how  the  young  man's  future  education  should  be 
directed.  Richard,  he  observed,  was  arrived  at  the  point 
where  education,  losing  its  original  and  general  character, 
branches  off  into  different  paths  of  knowledge,  suitable 
to  particular  professions,  and  when  it  was  therefore  be- 
come necessary  to  determine  which  of  them  it  was  his 
pleasure  that  young  Richard  should  be  trained  for ;  and 
he  would,  on  his  part,  do  all  he  could  to  carry  Mr.  Mon- 
fada's  wishes  into  execution,  since  the  amiable  qualities 
of  the  boy  made  him  as  dear  to  him,  though  but  a  guard- 
ian, as  he  could  have  been  to  his  own  father. 

The  answer,  which  arrived  in  the  course  of  a  week  or 
ten  days,  was  fuller  than  usual,  and  written  in  the  first 
person.  'Mr.  Gray,'  such  was  the  tenor,  'our  meeting 
has  been  under  such  circumstances  as  could  not  make  us 
favourably  know^n  to  each  other  at  the  time.  But  I  have 
the  advantage  of  you,  since,  knowing  your  motives  for 
entertaining  an  indifferent  opinion  of  me,  I  could  respect 
them,  and  you  at  the  same  time;  whereas  you,  unable  to 
comprehend  the  motives  —  I  say,  you,  being  unac- 

238 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

quainted  with  the  infamous  treatment  I  had  received, 
could  not  understand  the  reasons  that  I  have  for  acting 
as  I  have  done.  Deprived,  sir,  by  the  act  of  a  villain,  of 
my  child,  and  she  despoiled  of  honour,  I  cannot  bring 
myself  to  think  of  beholding  the  creature,  however  inno- 
cent, whose  look  must  always  remind  me  of  hatred  and 
of  shame.  Keep  the  poor  child  by  you,  educate  him  to 
your  own  profession,  but  take  heed  that  he  looks  no 
higher  than  to  fill  such  a  situation  in  life  as  you  yourself 
worthily  occupy,  or  some  other  line  of  like  importance. 
For  the  condition  of  a  farmer,  a  country  lawyer,  a  med- 
ical practitioner,  or  some  such  retired  course  of  life,  the 
means  of  outfit  and  education  shall  be  amply  supplied. 
But  I  must  warn  him  and  you  that  any  attempt  to  in- 
trude himself  on  me  further  than  I  may  especially  per- 
mit will  be  attended  with  the  total  forfeiture  of  my  fa- 
vour and  protection.  So,  having  made  known  my  mind 
to  you,  I  expect  you  will  act  accordingly.' 

The  receipt  of  this  letter  determined  Gideon  to  have 
some  explanation  with  the  boy  himself,  in  order  to  learn 
if  he  had  any  choice  among  the  professions  thus  opened 
to  him;  convinced,  at  the  same  time,  from  his  docility  of 
temper,  that  he  would  refer  the  selection  to  his  (Dr. 
Gray's)  better  judgment. 

He  had  previously,  however,  the  unpleasing  task  of  ac- 
quainting Richard  Middlemas  with  the  mysterious  cir- 
cumstances attending  his  birth,  of  which  he  presumed 
him  to  be  entirely  ignorant,  simply  because  he  himself 
had  never  communicated  them,  but  had  let  the  boy  con- 
sider himself  as  the  orphan  child  of  a  distant  relation. 
But,  though  the  doctor  himself  was  silent,  he  might  have 
remembered  that  Nurse  Jamieson  had  the  handsome 

239 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

enjoyment  of  her  tongue,  and  was  disposed  to  use  it  lib- 
erally. 

From  a  very  early  period  Nurse  Jamieson,  amongst 
the  variety  of  legendary  lore  which  she  instilled  into 
her  foster-son,  had  not  forgotten  what  she  called  the 
awful  season  of  his  coming  into  the  world;  the  person- 
able appearance  of  his  father,  a  grand  gentleman,  who 
looked  as  if  the  whole  world  lay  at  his  feet ;  the  beauty  of 
his  mother,  and  the  terrible  blackness  of  the  mask  which 
she  wore,  her  een  that  glanced  like  diamonds,  and  the 
diamonds  she  wore  on  her  fingers,  that  could  be  com- 
pared to  nothing  but  her  own  een,  the  fairness  of  her 
skin,  and  the  colour  of  her  silk  rokelay,  with  much 
proper  stuff  to  the  same  purpose.  Then  she  expatiated 
on  the  arrival  of  his  grandfather,  and  the  awful  man, 
armed  with  pistol,  dirk,  and  claymore  (the  last  weapons 
existed  only  in  Nurse's  imagination),  the  very  ogre  of  a 
fairy  tale;  then  all  the  circumstances  of  the  carrying  off 
his  mother,  while  bank-notes  were  flying  about  the  house 
like  screeds  of  brown  paper,  and  gold  guineas  were  as 
plenty  as  chuckie-stanes.  All  this,  partly  to  please  and 
interest  the  boy,  partly  to  indulge  her  own  talent  for 
amplification.  Nurse  told  with  so  many  additional  cir- 
cumstances and  gratuitous  commentaries,  that  the  real 
transaction,  mysterious  and  odd  as  it  certainly  was, 
sunk  into  tameness  before  the  nurse's  edition,  like 
humble  prose  contrasted  with  the  boldest  flights  of 
poetry. 

To  hear  all  this  did  Richard  seriously  incline,  and  still 
more  was  he  interested  with  the  idea  of  his  valiant  father 
coming  for  him  unexpectedly  at  the  head  of  a  gallant 
regiment,  with  music  playing  and  colours  flying,  and 

240 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

carrying  his  son  away  on  the  most  beautiful  pony  eyes 
ever  beheld;  or  his  mother,  bright  as  the  day,  might  sud- 
denly appear  in  her  coach-and-six,  to  reclaim  her  beloved 
child;  or  his  repentant  grandfather,  with  his  pockets 
stuffed  out  with  bank-notes,  would  come  to  atone  for  his 
past  cruelty,  by  heaping  his  neglected  grandchild  with 
unexpected  wealth.  Sure  was  Nurse  Jamieson  *  that  it 
wanted  but  a  blink  of  her  bairn's  bonny  ee  to  turn  their 
hearts,  as  Scripture  sayeth;  and  as  strange  things  had 
been,  as  they  should  come  a'thegither  to  the  town  at  the 
same  time,  and  make  such  a  day  as  had  never  been  seen 
in  Middlemas ;  and  then  her  bairn  would  never  be  called 
by  that  Lowland  name  of  Middlemas  any  more,  which 
sounded  as  if  it  had  been  gathered  out  of  the  town  gutter; 
but  would  be  called  Galatian,^  or  Sir  William  Wallace, 
or  Robin  Hood,  or  after  some  other  of  the  great  princes 
named  in  story-books.' 

Nurse  Jamieson's  history  of  the  past  and  prospects  of 
the  future  were  too  flattering  not  to  excite  the  most  am- 
bitious visions  in  the  mind  of  a  boy  who  naturally  felt  a 
strong  desire  of  rising  in  the  world,  and  was  conscious  of 
possessing  the  powers  necessary  to  his  advancement. 
The  incidents  of  his  birth  resemble'd  those  he  found  com- 
memorated in  the  tales  which  he  read  or  listened  to; 
and  there  seemed  no  reason  why  his  own  adventures 
should  not  have  a  termination  corresponding  to  those  of 
such  veracious  histories.  In  a  word,  while  good  Dr. 
Gray  imagined  that  his  pupil  was  dwelling  in  utter  igno- 
rance of  his  origin,  Richard  was  meditating  upon  nothing 
else  than  the  time  and  means  by  which  he  anticipated 
his  being  extricated  from  the  obscurity  of  his  present 

*  Galatian  is  a  name  of  a  person  famous  in  Christmas  gambols. 
44  241 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

condition,  and  enabled  to  assume  the  rank  to  which,  in 
his  own  opinion,  he  was  entitled  by  birth. 

So  stood  the  feeUngs  of  the  young  man,  when,  one  day 
after  dinner,  the  doctor,  snuffing  the  candle,  and  taking 
from  his  pouch  the  great  leathern  pocket-book  in  which 
he  deposited  particular  papers,  with  a  small  supply  of 
the  most  necessary  and  active  medicines,  he  took  from  it 
Mr.  Mongada's  letter,  and  requested  Richard  Middle- 
mas's  serious  attention,  while  he  told  him  some  circum- 
stances concerning  himself,  which  it  greatly  imported 
him  to  know.  Richard's  dark  eyes  flashed  fire,  the  blood 
flushed  his  broad  and  well-formed  forehead  —  the  hour 
of  explanation  was  at  length  come.  He  Hstened  to  the 
narrative  of  Gideon  Gray,  which,  the  reader  may  beHeve, 
being  altogether  divested  of  the  gilding  which  Nurse 
Jamieson's  imagination  had  bestowed  upon  it,  and  re- 
duced to  what  mercantile  men  termed  the  'needful,' 
exhibited  Httle  more  than  the  tale  of  a  child  of  shame, 
deserted  by  its  father  and  mother,  and  brought  up  on  the 
reluctant  charity  of  a  more  distant  relation,  who  regarded 
him  as  the  Hving,  though  unconscious,  evidence  of  the 
disgrace  of  his  family,  and  would  more  wilHngly  have 
paid  for  the  expenses  of  his  funeral  than  that  of  the  food 
which  was  grudgingly  provided  for  him.  'Temple  and 
tower,'  a  hundred  flattering  edifices  of  Richard's  childish 
imagination  went  to  the  ground  at  once,  and  the  pain 
which  attended  their  demohtion  was  rendered  the  more 
acute  by  a  sense  of  shame  that  he  should  have  nursed 
such  reveries.  He  remained,  while  Gideon  continued  his 
explanation,  in  a  dejected  posture,  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
ground,  and  the  veins  of  his  forehead  swoln  with  con- 
tending passions. 

242 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*And  now,  my  dear  Richard,'  said  the  good  surgeon, 
*  you  must  think  what  you  can  do  for  yourself,  since  your 
grandfather  leaves  you  the  choice  of  three  honourable 
professions,  by  any  of  which,  well  and  wisely  prosecuted, 
you  may  become  independent  if  not  wealthy,  and  re- 
spectable if  not  great.  You  will  naturally  desire  a  little 
time  for  consideration.' 

'  Not  a  minute,'  said  the  boy,  raising  his  head  and  look- 
ing boldly  at  his  guardian.  'I  am  a  free-born  English- 
man, and  will  return  to  England  if  I  think  fit.' 

*  A  free-born  fool  you  are,'  said  Gray.  'You  were  born, 
as  I  think,  and  no  one  can  know  better  than  I  do,  in  the 
blue  room  of  Stevenlaw's  Land,  in  the  townhead  of  Mid- 
dlemas,  if  you  call  that  being  a  free-born  Englishman.' 

*  But  Tom  Hillary '  —  this  was  an  apprentice  of  Clerk 
Lawford,  who  had  of  late  been  a  great  friend  and  adviser 
of  young  Middlemas  —  *  Tom  Hillary  says  that  I  am  a 
free-born  Englishman,  notwithstanding,  in  right  of  my 
parents.' 

'Pooh,  child!  what  do  we  know  of  your  parents?  But 
what  has  your  being  an  Englishman  to  do  with  the  pres- 
ent question?' 

'Oh,  doctor!'  answered  the  boy,  bitterly,  'you  know 
we  from  the  south  side  of  Tweed  cannot  scramble  so 
hard  as  you  do.  The  Scots  are  too  moral,  and  too  pru- 
dent, and  too  robust  for  a  poor  pudding-eater  to  live 
amongst  them,  whether  as  a  parson,  or  as  a  lawyer,  or  as 
a  doctor  —  with  your  pardon,  sir.' 

'Upon  my  life,  Dick,'  said  Gray,  'this  Tom  Hillary 
will  turn  your  brain.  What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this 
trash?' 

'  Tom  Hillary  says  that  the  parson  lives  by  the  sins  of 

243 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  people,  the  lawyer  by  their  distresses,  and  the  doctor 
by  their  diseases  —  always  asking  your  pardon,  sir.' 

'  Tom  Hillary,'  repKed  the  doctor, '  should  be  drummed 
out  of  the  borough.  A  whipper-snapper  of  an  attorney's 
apprentice,  run  away  from  Newcastle!  If  I  hear  him 
talking  so,  I  '11  teach  him  to  speak  with  more  reverence 
of  the  learned  professions.  Let  me  hear  no  more  of  Tom 
Hillary,  whom  you  have  seen  far  too  much  of  lately. 
Think  a  little,  like  a  lad  of  sense,  and  tell  me  what  answer 
I  am  to  give  to  Mr.  Mongada.' 

'Tell  him,'  said  the  boy,  the  tone  of  afifected  sarcasm 
laid  aside,  and  that  of  injured  pride  substituted  in  its 
room  —  *  tell  him  that  my  soul  revolts  at  the  obscure 
lot  he  recommends  to  me.  I  am  determined  to  enter  my 
father's  profession,  the  army,  unless  my  grandfather 
chooses  to  receive  me  into  his  house  and  place  me  in  his 
own  line  of  business.' 

'Yes,  and  make  you  his  partner,  I  suppose,  and 
acknowledge  you  for  his  heir?'  said  Dr.  Gray;  *a  thing 
extremely  likely  to  happen,  no  doubt,  considering  the 
way  in  which  he  has  brought  you  up  all  along,  and  the 
terms  in  which  he  now  writes  concerning  you.' 

'  Then,  sir,  there  is  one  thing  which  I  can  demand  of 
you,'  replied  the  boy.  'There  is  a  large  sum  of  money  in 
your  hands  belonging  to  me;  and  since  it  is  consigned  to 
you  for  my  use,  I  demand  you  should  make  the  neces- 
sary advances  to  procure  a  commission  in  the  army, 
account  to  me  for  the  balance;  and  so,  with  thanks  for 
past  favours,  I  will  give  you  no  trouble  in  future.' 

'Young  man,'  said  the  doctor,  gravely,  'I  am  very 
sorry  to  see  that  your  usual  prudence  and  good-humour 
are  not  proof  against  the  disappointment  of  some  idle 

244 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

expectations  which  you  had  not  the  slightest  reason  to 
entertain.  It  is  very  true  that  there  is  a  sum  which,  in 
spite  of  various  expenses,  may  still  approach  to  a  thou- 
sand pounds  or  better,  which  remains  in  my  hands  for 
your  behoof.  But  I  am  bound  to  dispose  of  it  according 
to  the  will  of  the  donor;  and,  at  any  rate,  you  are  not 
entitled  to  call  for  it  until  you  come  to  years  of  discre- 
tion —  a  period  from  which  you  are  six  years  distant 
according  to  law,  and  which,  in  one  sense,  you  will  never 
reach  at  all,  unless  you  alter  your  present  unreasonable 
crotchets.  But  come,  Dick,  this  is  the  first  time  I  h^ve 
seen  you  in  so  absurd  a  humour,  and  you  have  many 
things,  I  own,  in  your  situation  to  apologise  for  impa- 
tience even  greater  than  you  have  displayed.  But  you 
should  not  turn  your  resentment  on  me,  that  am  no  way 
in  fault.  You  should  remember  that  I  was  your  earliest 
and  only  friend,  and  took  charge  of  you  when  every  other 
person  forsook  you.' 

'  I  do  not  thank  you  for  it,'  said  Richard,  giving  way  to 
a  burst  of  uncontrolled  passion.  '  You  might  have  done 
better  for  me  had  you  pleased.' 

*  And  in  what  manner,  you  ungrateful  boy? '  said  Gray, 
whose  composure  was  a  little  ruffled. 

*  You  might  have  flung  me  under  the  wheels  of  their 
carriages  as  they  drove  off,  and  have  let  them  trample  on 
the  body  of  their  child,  as  they  have  done  on  his  feelings.' 

So  sa>^ng,  he  rushed  out  of  the  room,  and  shut  the 
door  behind  him  with  great  violence,  leaving  his  guardian 
astonished  at  his  sudden  and  violent  change  of  temper 
and  manner. 

'What  the  deuce  can  have  possessed  him?  Ah,  well. 
High-spirited,  and  disappointed  in  some  follies  which 

245 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

that  Tom  Hillary  has  put  into  his  head.  But  his  is  a  case 
for  anodynes,  and  shall  be  treated  accordingly.' 

While  the  doctor  formed  this  good-natured  resolution, 
young  Middlemas  rushed  to  Nurse  Jamieson's  apart- 
ment, where  poor  Menie,  to  whom  his  presence  always 
gave  holyday  feelings,  hastened  to  exhibit  for  his  admi- 
ration a  new  doll,  of  which  she  had  made  the  acquisition. 
No  one,  generally,  was  more  interested  in  Menie's  amuse- 
ments than  Richard;  but  at  present  Richard,  hke  his 
celebrated  namesake,  was  not  i'  the  vein.  He  threw  off 
the  little  damsel  so  carelessly,  almost  so  rudely,  that  the 
doll  flew  out  of  Menie's  hand,  fell  on  the  hearthstone, 
and  broke  its  waxen  face.  The  rudeness  drew  from  Nurse 
Jamieson  a  rebuke,  even  although  the  culprit  was  her 
darling. 

'  Hout  awa',  Richard,  that  wasna  like  yoursell,  to  guide 
Miss  Menie  that  gate.  Haud  your  tongue,  Miss  Menie, 
and  I'll  soon  mend  the  baby's  face.' 

But  if  Menie  cried,  she  did  not  cry  for  the  doll;  and 
while  the  tears  flowed  silently  down  her  cheeks,  she  sat 
looking  at  Dick  Middlemas  with  a  childish  face  of  fear, 
sorrow,  and  wonder.  Nurse  Jamieson  was  soon  diverted 
from  her  attention  to  Menie  Gray's  distresses,  especially 
as  she  did  not  weep  aloud,  and  her  attention  became 
fixed  on  the  altered  countenance,  red  eyes,  and  swoln 
features  of  her  darling  foster-child.  She  instantly  com- 
menced an  investigation  into  the  cause  of  his  distress, 
after  the  usual  inquisitorial  manner  of  matrons  of  her 
class.  '  What  is  the  matter  wi'  my  bairn? '  and  '  Wha  has 
been  vexing  my  bairn?'  with  similar  questions,  at  last 
extorted  this  reply  — 

*  I  am  not  your  bairn  —  I  am  no  one's  bairn  —  no 

246 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

one's  son.  I  am  an  outcast  from  my  family,  and  belong 
to  no  one.  Dr.  Gray  has  told  me  so  himself.' 

'And  did  he  cast  up  to  my  bairn  that  he  was  a  bas- 
tard? Troth  he  wasna  blate.  My  certie,  your  father  was 
a  better  man  than  ever  stood  on  the  doctor's  shanks  — 
a  handsome  grand  gentleman,  with  an  ee  like  a  gled's 
and  a  step  Hke  a  Highland  piper.' 

Nurse  Jamieson  had  got  on  a  favourite  topic,  and 
would  have  expatiated  long  enough,  for  she  was  a  pro- 
fessed admirer  of  masculine  beauty,  but  there  was  some- 
thing which  displeased  the  boy  in  her  last  simile ;  so  he 
cut  the  conversation  short  by  asking  whether  she  knew 
exactly  how  much  money  his  grandfather  had  left  with 
Dr.  Gray  for  his  maintenance.  '  She  could  not  say  — 
didna  ken  —  an  awfu'  sum  it  was  to  pass  out  of  ae  man's 
hand.  She  was  sure  it  wasna  less  than  ae  hundred  pounds 
and  it  might  weel  be  twa.'  In  short,  she  knew  nothing 
about  the  matter;  'but  she  was  sure  Dr.  Gray  would 
count  to  him  to  the  last  farthing,  for  everybody  kenn'd 
that  he  was  a  just  man  where  siller  was  concerned.  How- 
ever, if  her  bairn  wanted  to  ken  mair  about  it,  to  be  sure 
the  town-clerk  could  tell  him  all  about  it.' 

Richard  Middlemas  arose  and  left  the  apartment, 
without  saying  more.  He  went  immediately  to  visit  the 
old  town-clerk,  to  whom  he  had  made  himself  accepta- 
ble, as  indeed  he  had  done  to  most  of  the  dignitaries 
about  the  burgh.  He  introduced  the  conversation  by  the 
proposal  which  had  been  made  to  him  for  choosing  a 
profession,  and  after  speaking  of  the  mysterious  circum- 
stances of  his  birth  and  the  doubtful  prospects  which  lay 
before  him,  he  easily  led  the  town-clerk  into  conversa- 
tion as  to  the  amount  of  the  funds,  and  heard  the  exact 

247 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

state  of  the  money  in  his  guardian's  hands,  which  cor- 
responded with  the  information  he  had  already  received. 
He  next  sounded  the  worthy  scribe  on  the  possibility  of 
his  going  into  the  army;  but  received  a  second  confirma- 
tion of  the  intelligence  Mr.  Gray  had  given  him,  being 
informed  that  no  part  of  the  money  could  be  placed  at 
his  disposal  till  he  was  of  age,  and  then  not  without  the 
especial  consent  of  both  his  guardians,  and  particularly 
that  of  his  master.  He  therefore  took  leave  of  the  town- 
clerk,  who,  much  approving  the  cautious  manner  in 
which  he  spoke,  and  his  prudent  selection  of  an  adviser 
at  this  important  crisis  of  his  Hfe,  intimated  to  him  that, 
should  he  choose  the  law,  he  would  himself  receive  him 
into  his  office  upon  a  very  moderate  apprentice-fee,  and 
would  part  with  Tom  Hillary  to  make  room  for  him,  as 
the  lad  was  'rather  pragmatical,  and  plagued  him  with 
speaking  about  his  EngHsh  practice,  which  they  had 
nothing  to  do  with  on  this  side  of  the  Border  —  the  Lord 
be  thanked!' 

Middlemas  thanked  him  for  his  kindness,  and  prom- 
ised to  consider  his  kind  ofifer,  in  case  he  should  deter- 
mine upon  following  the  profession  of  the  law. 

From  Tom  Hillary's  master  Richard  went  to  Tom 
Hillary  himself,  who  chanced  then  to  be  in  the  office.  He 
was  a  lad  about  twenty,  as  smart  as  small,  but  distin- 
guished for  the  accuracy  with  which  he  dressed  his  hair, 
and  the  splendour  of  a  laced  hat  and  embroidered  waist- 
coat, with  which  he  graced  the  church  of  Middlemas  on 
Sundays.  Tom  Hillary  had  been  bred  an  attorney's 
clerk  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  but,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  had  found  it  more  convenient  of  late  years  to 
reside  in  Scotland,  and  was  recommended  to  the  town- 

248 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

clerk  of  Middlemas  by  the  accuracy  and  beauty  with 
which  he  transcribed  the  records  of  the  burgh.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  reports  concerning  the  singular 
circumstances  of  Richard  Middlemas's  birth,  and  the 
knowledge  that  he  was  actually  possessed  of  a  consider- 
able sum  of  money,  induced  Hillary,  though  so  much  his 
senior,  to  admit  the  lad  to  his  company,  and  enrich  his 
youthful  mind  with  some  branches  of  information  which, 
in  that  retired  corner,  his  pupil  might  otherwise  have 
been  some  time  in  attaining.  Amongst  these  were  certain 
games  at  cards  and  dice,  in  which  the  pupil  paid,  as  was 
reasonable,  the  price  of  initiation  by  his  losses  to  his 
instructor.  After  a  long  walk  with  this  youngster,  whose 
advice,  like  the  unwise  son  of  the  wisest  of  men,  he  prob- 
ably valued  more  than  that  of  his  more  aged  counsellors, 
Richard  Middlemas  returned  to  his  lodgings  in  Steven- 
law's  Land,  and  went  to  bed  sad  and  supperless. 

The  next  morning  Richard  arose  with  the  sun,  and  his 
night's  rest  appeared  to  have  had  its  frequent  effect,  in 
cooUng  the  passions  and  correcting  the  understanding. 
Little  Menie  was  the  first  person  to  whom  he  made  the 
amende  honorable  ;  and  a  much  smaller  propitiation  than 
the  new  doll  with  which  he  presented  her  would  have 
been  accepted  as  an  atonement  for  a  much  greater  of- 
fence. Menie  was  one  of  those  pure  spirits  to  whom  a 
state  of  unkindness,  if  the  estranged  person  has  been  a 
friend,  is  a  state  of  pain,  and  the  slightest  advance  of  her 
friend  and  protector  was  sufficient  to  regain  all  her  child- 
ish confidence  and  affection. 

The  father  did  not  prove  more  inexorable  than  Menie 
had  done.  Mr.  Gray,  indeed,  thought  he  had  good  reason 
to  look  cold  upon  Richard  at  their  next  meeting,  being 

249 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

not  a  little  hurt  at  the  ungrateful  treatment  which  he 
had  received  on  the  preceding  evening.  But  Middlemas 
disarmed  him  at  once  by  frankly  pleading  that  he  had 
suffered  his  mind  to  be  carried  away  by  the  supposed 
rank  and  importance  of  his  parents  into  an  idle  convic- 
tion that  he  was  one  day  to  share  them.  The  letter  of 
his  grandfather,  which  condemned  him  to  banishment 
and  obscurity  for  life,  was,  he  acknowledged,  a  very  se- 
vere blow;  and  it  was  with  deep  sorrow  that  he  reflected 
that  the  irritation  of  his  disappointment  had  led  him  to 
express  himself  in  a  manner  far  short  of  the  respect  and 
reverence  of  one  who  owed  Mr.  Gray  the  duty  and  affec- 
tion of  a  son,  and  ought  to  refer  to  his  decision  every  ac- 
tion of  his  life.  Gideon,  propitiated  by  an  admission  so 
candid,  and  made  with  so  much  humility,  readily  dis- 
missed his  resentment,  and  kindly  inquired  of  Richard 
whether  he  had  bestowed  any  reflection  upon  the  choice 
of  profession  which  had  been  subjected  to  him ;  offering, 
at  the  same  time,  to  allow  him  all  reasonable  time  to 
make  up  his  mind. 

On  this  subject,  Richard  Middlemas  answered  with  the 
same  promptitude  and  candour.  'He  had,'  he  said,  'in 
order  to  forming  his  opinion  more  safely,  consulted  with 
his  friend,  the  town-clerk.'  The  doctor  nodded  appro- 
bation. 'Mr.  Lawford  had,  indeed,  been  most  friendly 
and  had  even  offered  to  take  him  into  his  own  office.  But 
if  his  father  and  benefactor  would  permit  him  to  study, 
under  his  instructions,  the  noble  art  in  which  he  himself 
enjoyed  such  a  deserved  reputation,  the  mere  hope  that 
he  might  by  and  by  be  of  some  use  to  Mr.  Gray  in  his 
business  would  greatly  overbalance  every  other  consid- 
eration. Such  a  course  of  education,  and  such  a  use  of 

250 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

professional  knowledge  when  he  had  acquired  it,  would 
be  a  greater  spur  to  his  industry  than  the  prospect  even 
of  becoming  town-clerk  of  Middlemas  in  his  proper 
person.' 

As  the  young  man  expressed  it  to  be  his  firm  and  un- 
alterable choice  to  study  medicine  under  his  guardian, 
and  to  remain  a  member  of  his  family,  Dr.  Gray  informed 
Mr.  Mongada  of  the  lad's  determination;  who,  to  testify 
his  approbation,  remitted  to  the  doctor  the  sum  of  £ioo 
as  apprentice-fee  —  a  sum  nearly  three  times  as  much  as 
Gray's  modesty  had  hinted  at  as  necessary. 

Shortly  after,  when  Dr.  Gray  and  the  town-clerk  met 
at  the  small  club  of  the  burgh,  their  joint  theme  was  the 
sense  and  steadiness  of  Richard  Middlemas. 

'Indeed,'  said  the  town-clerk,  'he  is  such  a  friendly 
and  disinterested  boy,  that  I  could  not  get  him  to  accept 
a  place  in  my  office  for  fear  he  should  be  thought  to  be 
pushing  himself  forward  at  the  expense  of  Tam  Hillary.' 

'And,  indeed,  clerk,'  said  Gray,  'I  have  sometimes 
been  afraid  that  he  kept  too  much  company  with  that 
Tam  Hillary  of  yours;  but  twenty  Tam  Hillarys  would 
not  corrupt  Dick  Middlemas.' 


CHAPTER  III 


Dick  was  come  to  high  renown 
Since  he  commenced  physician; 

Tom  was  held  by  all  the  town 
The  better  politician. 

Tom  and  Dick. 


At  the  same  period  when  Dr.  Gray  took  under  his  charge 
his  youthful  lodger  Richard  Middlemas,  he  received  pro- 
posals from  the  friends  of  one  Adam  Hartley,  to  receive 
him  also  as  an  apprentice.  The  lad  was  the  son  of  a  re- 
spectable farmer  on  the  English  side  of  the  Border,  who, 
conducting  his  eldest  son  to  his  own  occupation,  desired 
to  make  his  second  a  medical  man,  in  order  to  avail  him- 
self of  the  friendship  of  a  great  man,  his  landlord,  who 
had  offered  to  assist  his  views  in  life,  and  represented  a 
doctor  or  surgeon  as  the  sort  of  person  to  whose  advan- 
tage his  interest  could  be  most  readily  applied.  Middle- 
mas and  Hartley  were  therefore  associated  in  their  stu- 
dies. In  winter  they  were  boarded  in  Edinburgh,  for 
attending  the  medical  classes,  which  were  necessary  for 
taking  their  degree.  Three  or  four  years  thus  passed  on, 
and,  from  being  mere  boys,  the  two  medical  aspirants 
shot  up  into  young  men,  who,  being  both  very  good- 
looking,  well  dressed,  well  bred,  and  having  money  in 
their  pockets,  became  personages  of  some  importance 
in  the  little  town  of  Middlemas,  where  there  was  scarce 
anything  that  could  be  termed  an  aristocracy,  and  in 
which  beaux  were  scarce  and  belles  were  plenty. 

Each  of  the  two  had  his  especial  partizans;  for,  though 
252 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

the  young  men  themselves  lived  in  tolerable  harmony 
together,  yet,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  no  one  could  ap- 
prove of  one  of  them  without  at  the  same  time  compar- 
ing him  with,  and  asserting  his  superiority  over,  his 
companion. 

Both  were  gay,  fond  of  dancing,  and  sedulous  atten- 
dants on  the  'practeezings,'  as  he  called  them,  of  Mr. 
MTittoch,  a  dancing-master  who,  itinerant  during  the 
summer,  became  stationary  in  the  winter  season,  and 
afforded  the  youth  of  Middlemas  the  benefit  of  his  in- 
structions at  the  rate  of  twenty  lessons  for  five  shillings 
sterling.  On  these  occasions  each  of  Dr.  Gray's  pupils 
had  his  appropriate  praise.  Hartley  danced  with  most 
spirit,  Middlemas  with  a  better  grace.  Mr.  M'Fittoch 
would  have  turned  out  Richard  against  the  country-side 
in  the  minuet,  and  wagered  the  thing  dearest  to  him  in 
the  world,  and  that  was  his  kit,  upon  his  assured  supe- 
riority; but  he  admitted  Hartley  was  superior  to  him  in 
hornpipes,  jigs,  strathspeys,  and  reels. 

In  dress  Hartley  was  most  expensive,  perhaps  because 
his  father  afforded  him  better  means  of  being  so ;  but  his 
clothes  were  neither  so  tasteful  when  new  nor  so  well 
preserved  when  they  began  to  grow  old  as  those  of 
Richard  Middlemas.  Adam  Hartley  was  sometimes  fine, 
at  other  times  rather  slovenly,  and  on  the  former  occa- 
sions looked  rather  too  conscious  of  his  splendour.  His 
chum  was  at  all  times  regularly  neat  and  well  dressed; 
while  at  the  same  time  he  had  an  air  of  good-breeding 
which  made  him  appear  always  at  ease;  so  that  his  dress, 
whatever  it  was,  seemed  to  be  just  what  he  ought  to  have 
worn  at  the  time. 

In  their  persons  there  was  a  still  more  strongly-marked 

2  S3 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

distinction.  Adam  Hartley  was  full  middle-size,  stout, 
and  well  limbed;  and  an  open  English  countenance,  of 
the  genuine  Saxon  mould,  showed  itself  among  chestnut 
locks,  until  the  hairdresser  destroyed  them.  He  loved 
the  rough  exercises  of  wrestling,  boxing,  leaping,  and 
quarter-staff,  and  frequented,  when  he  could  obtain  lei- 
sure, the  bull-baitings  and  football  matches  by  which 
the  burgh  was  sometimes  enhvened. 

Richard,  on  the  contrary,  was  dark,  like  his  father  and 
mother,  with  high  features,  beautifully  formed,  but 
exhibiting  something  of  a  foreign  character;  and  his  per- 
son was  tall  and  slim,  though  muscular  and  active.  His 
address  and  manners  must  have  been  natural  to  him, 
for  they  were,  in  elegance  and  ease,  far  beyond  any 
example  which  he  could  have  found  in  his  native  burgh. 
He  learned  the  use  of  the  small-sword  while  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  took  lessons  from  a  performer  at  the  theatre, 
with  the  purpose  of  refining  his  mode  of  speaking.  He 
became  also  an  amateur  of  the  drama,  regularly  attend- 
ing the  play-house,  and  assuming  the  tone  of  a  critic  in 
that  and  other  lighter  departments  of  literature.  To  fill 
up  the  contrast,  so  far  as  taste  was  concerned,  Richard 
was  a  dexterous  and  successful  angler,  Adam  a  bold  and 
unerring  shot.  Their  efforts  to  surpass  each  other  in  sup- 
plying Dr.  Gray's  table  rendered  his  housekeeping  much 
preferable  to  what  it  had  been  on  former  occasions; 
and,  besides,  small  presents  of  fish  and  game  are  always 
agreeable  amongst  the  inhabitants  of  a  country  town, 
and  contributed  to  increase  the  popularity  of  the  young 
sportsmen. 

While  the  burgh  was  divided,  for  lack  of  better  sub- 
ject of  disputation,  concerning  the  comparative  merits  of 

254 


TPIE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Dr.  Gray's  two  apprentices,  he  himself  was  sometimes 
chosen  the  referee.  But  in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  the 
doctor  was  cautious.  He  said  the  lads  were  both  good 
lads,  and  would  be  useful  men  in  the  profession  if  their 
heads  were  not  carried  with  the  notice  which  the  foolish 
people  of  the  burgh  took  of  them,  and  the  parties  of 
pleasure  that  were  so  often  taking  them  away  from  their 
business.  No  doubt  it  was  natural  for  him  to  feel  more 
confidence  in  Hartley,  who  came  of  'kenned  folk,'  and 
was  very  near  as  good  as  a  born  Scotsman.  But  if  he  did 
feel  such  a  partiality,  he  blamed  himself  for  it,  since  the 
stranger  child,  so  oddly  cast  upon  his  hands,  had  peculiar 
good  right  to  such  patronage  and  affection  as  he  had  to 
bestow;  and  truly  the  young  man  himself  seemed  so 
grateful  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  hint  the  slight- 
est wish  that  Dick  Middlemas  did  not  hasten  to  execute. 

There  were  persons  in  the  burgh  of  Middlemas  who 
were  indiscreet  enough  to  suppose  that  Miss  Menie  must 
be  a  better  judge  than  any  other  person  of  the  compar- 
ative merits  of  these  accomplished  personages,  respect- 
ing which  the  public  opinion  was  generally  divided.  No 
one  even  of  her  greatest  intimates  ventured  to  put  the 
question  to  her  in  precise  terms;  but  her  conduct  was  nar- 
rowly observed,  and  the  critics  remarked  that  to  Adam 
Hartley  her  attentions  were  given  more  freely  and 
frankly.  She  laughed  with  him,  chatted  with  him,  and 
danced  with  him ;  while  to  Dick  Middlemas  her  conduct 
was  more  shy  and  distant.  The  premises  seemed  certain; 
but  the  public  were  divided  in  the  conclusions  which 
were  to  be  drawn  from  them. 

It  was  not  possible  for  the  young  men  to  be  the  sub- 
ject of  such  discussions  without  being  sensible  that  they 

255 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

existed;  and  thus  contrasted  together  by  the  little  so- 
ciety in  which  they  moved,  they  must  have  been  made 
of  better  than  ordinary  clay  if  they  had  not  themselves 
entered  by  degrees  into  the  spirit  of  the  controversy,  and 
considered  themselves  as  rivals  for  public  applause. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  that  Menie  Gray  was  by  this 
time  shot  up  into  one  of  the  prettiest  young  women,  not 
of  Middlemas  only,  but  of  the  whole  county  in  which 
the  little  burgh  is  situated.  This,  indeed,  had  been  set- 
tled by  evidence  which  could  not  be  esteemed  short  of 
decisive.  At  the  time  of  the  races  there  were  usually 
assembled  in  the  burgh  some  company  of  the  higher 
classes  from  the  country  around,  and  many  of  the  sober 
burghers  mended  their  incomes  by  letting  their  apart- 
ments, or  taking  in  lodgers  of  quahty,  for  the  busy  week. 
All  the  rural  thanes  and  thanesses  attended  on  these 
occasions ;  and  such  was  the  number  of  cocked  hats  and 
silken  trains,  that  the  little  town  seemed  for  a  time  to- 
tally to  have  changed  its  inhabitants.  On  this  occasion 
persons  of  a  certain  quahty  only  were  permitted  to 
attend  upon  the  nightly  balls  which  were  given  in  the  old 
town-house,  and  the  line  of  distinction  excluded  Mr. 
Gray's  family. 

The  aristocracy,  however,  used  their  privileges  with 
some  feelings  of  deference  to  the  native  beaux  and  belles 
of  the  burgh,  who  were  thus  doomed  to  hear  the  fiddles 
nightly  without  being  permitted  to  dance  to  them.  One 
evening  in  the  race-week,  termed  the  Hunter's  Ball,  was 
dedicated  to  general  amusement,  and  liberated  from  the 
usual  restrictions  of  etiquette.  On  this  occasion  all  the 
respectable  famiHes  in  the  town  were  invited  to  share 
the  amusement  of  the  evening,  and  to  wonder  at  the 

256 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

finery,  and  be  grateful  for  the  condescension,  of  their 
betters.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  the  females, 
for  the  number  of  invitations  to  the  gentlemen  of  the 
town  was  much  more  limited.  Now,  at  this  general  mus- 
ter, the  beauty  of  Miss  Gray's  face  and  person  had 
placed  her,  in  the  opinion  of  all  competent  judges,  de- 
cidedly at  the  head  of  all  the  belles  present,  saving  those 
with  whom,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  place,  it  would 
hardly  have  been  decent  to  compare  her. 

The  laird  of  the  ancient  and  distinguished  house  of 
Louponheight  did  not  hesitate  to  engage  her  hand  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  evening;  and  his  mother, 
renowned  for  her  stern  assertion  of  the  distinctions  of 
rank,  placed  the  little  plebeian  beside  her  at  supper,  and 
was  heard  to  say  that  the  surgeon's  daughter  behaved 
very  prettily  indeed,  and  seemed  to  know  perfectly  well 
where  and  what  she  was.  As  for  the  young  laird  himself, 
he  capered  so  high,  and  laughed  so  uproariously,  as  to 
give  rise  to  a  rumour  that  he  was  minded  to  *  shoot  madly 
from  his  sphere,'  and  to  convert  the  village  doctor's 
daughter  into  a  lady  of  his  own  ancient  name. 

During  this  memorable  evening,  Middlemas  and 
Hartley,  who  had  found  room  in  the  music  gallery,  wit- 
nessed the  scene,  and,  as  it  would  seem,  with  very  differ- 
ent feelings.  Hartley  was  evidently  annoyed  by  the 
excess  of  attention  which  the  gallant  laird  of  Loupon- 
height, stimulated  by  the  influence  of  a  couple  of  bottles 
of  claret  and  by  the  presence  of  a  partner  who  danced 
remarkably  well,  paid  to  Miss  Mcnie  Gray.  He  saw  from 
his  lofty  stand  all  the  dumb  show  of  gallantry  with  the 
comfortable  feelings  of  a  famishing  creature  looking  upon 
a  feast  which  he  is  not  permitted  to  share,  and  regarded 

44  257 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

every  extraordinary  frisk  of  the  jovial  laird  as  the  same 
might  have  been  looked  upon  by  a  gouty  person,  who 
apprehended  that  the  dignitary  was  about  to  descend  on 
his  toes.  At  length,  unable  to  restrain  his  emotion,  he 
left  the  gallery,  and  returned  no  more. 

Far  diflferent  was  the  demeanour  of  Middlemas.  He 
seemed  gratified  and  elevated  by  the  attention  which 
was  generally  paid  to  Miss  Gray,  and  by  the  admiration 
she  excited.  On  the  valiant  laird  of  Louponheight  he 
looked  with  indescribable  contempt,  and  amused  him- 
self with  pointing  out  to  the  burgh  dancing-master,  who 
acted  pro  tempore  as  one  of  the  band,  the  frolicsome 
bounds  and  pirouettes,  in  which  that  worthy  displayed  a 
great  deal  more  of  vigour  than  of  grace. 

'But  he  shouldna  laugh  sae  loud.  Master  Dick,'  said 
the  master  of  capers;  *he  hasna  had  the  advantage  of  a 
real  gracefu'  teacher,  as  ye  have  had;  and  troth,  if  he 
listed  to  tak  some  lessons,  I  think  I  could  make  some 
hand  of  his  feet,  for  he  is  a  souple  chield,  and  has  a  gal- 
lant instep  of  his  ain ;  and  sic  a  laced  hat  hasna  been  seen 
on  the  causeway  of  Middlemas  this  mony  a  day.  Ye  are 
standing  laughing  there,  Dick  Middlemas;  I  would  have 
you  be  sure  he  does  not  cut  you  out  with  your  bonny 
partner  yonder.' 

*  He  be  —  ! '  Middlemas  was  beginning  a  sentence 
which  could  not  have  concluded  with  strict  attention  to 
propriety,  when  the  master  of  the  band  summoned 
M'Fittoch  to  his  post  by  the  following  ireful  expostula- 
tion —  'What  are  ye  about,  sir?  Mind  your  bow-hand. 
How  the  deil  d  'ye  think  three  fiddles  is  to  keep  down  a 
bass,  if  yin  o'  them  stands  girning  and  gabbling  as  ye  're 
doing?  Play  up,  sir ! ' 

258 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Dick  Middlemas,  thus  reduced  to  silence,  continued, 
from  his  lofty  station,  like  one  of  the  gods  of  the  Epicu- 
reans, to  survey  what  passed  below,  without  the  gaieties 
which  he  witnessed  being  able  to  excite  more  than  a 
smile,  which  seemed,  however,  rather  to  indicate  a  good- 
humoured  contempt  for  what  was  passing  than  a  benev- 
olent sympathy  with  the  pleasures  of  others. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Now  hold  thy  tongue,  Billy  Bewick,  he  said, 

Of  peaceful  talking  let  roe  be; 
But  if  thou  art  a  man,  as  I  think  thou  art, 

Come  ower  the  dike  and  fight  with  me. 

Border  Minstrelsy, 

On  the  morning  after  this  gay  evening,  the  two  young 
men  were  labouring  together  in  a  plot  of  ground  behind 
Stevenlaw's  Land  which  the  doctor  had  converted  into  a 
garden,  where  he  raised,  with  a  view  to  pharmacy  as  well 
as  botany,  some  rare  plants,  which  obtained  the  place 
from  the  vulgar  the  sounding  name  of  the  Physic  Gar- 
den.^ Mr.  Gray's  pupils  readily  complied  with  his  wishes, 
that  they  would  take  some  care  of  this  favourite  spot,  to 
which  both  contributed  their  labours,  after  which  Hart- 
ley used  to  devote  himself  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
kitchen  garden,  which  he  had  raised  into  this  respecta- 
bility from  a  spot  not  excelling  a  common  kail-yard, 
while  Richard  Middlemas  did  his  utmost  to  decorate 
with  flowers  and  shrubs  a  sort  of  arbour,  usually  called 
Miss  Menie's  bower. 

At  present,  they  were  both  in  the  botanic  patch  of  the 
garden,  when  Dick  Middlemas  asked  Hartley  why  he 
had  left  the  ball  so  soon  the  evening  before. 

'I  should  rather  ask  you,'  said  Hartley,  'what 
pleasure  you  felt  in  staying  there?  I  tell  you,  Dick, 
it  is  a  shabby,  low  place  this  Middlemas  of  ours. 
In  the  smallest  burgh  in  England  every  decent  free- 

^  The  Botanic  Garden  is  so  termed  by  the  vulgar  of  Edinburgh. 
260 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

holder  would  have  been  asked  if  the  member  gave 
a  ball.' 

'What,  Hartley!'  said  his  companion,  'are  you,  of  all 
men,  a  candidate  for  the  honour  of  mixing  with  the  first- 
born of  the  earth?  Mercy  on  us!  How  will  canny  North- 
umberland (throwing  a  true  Northern  accent  on  the 
letter  R)  acquit  himself?  Methinks  I  see  thee  in  thy 
pea-green  suit,  dancing  a  jig  with  the  Honourable  Miss 
Maddie  MacFudgeon,  while  chiefs  and  thanes  around 
laugh  as  they  would  do  at  a  hog  in  armour!' 

'You  don't,  or  perhaps  you  won't,  understand  me/ 
said  Hartley.  'I  am  not  such  a  fool  as  to  desire  to  be 
hail-fellow-well-met  with  these  fine  folks :  I  care  as  little 
for  them  as  they  do  for  me.  But  as  they  do  not  choose 
to  ask  us  to  dance,  I  don't  see  what  business  they  have 
with  our  partners.' 

'Partners,  said  you!'  answered  Middlemas;  *I  don't 
think  Menie  is  very  often  yours.' 

'As  often  as  I  ask  her,'  answered  Hartley,  rather 
haughtily. 

'Ay?  Indeed?  I  did  not  think  that.  And  hang  me  if  I 
think  so  yet,'  said  Middlemas,  with  the  same  sarcastic 
tone.  '  I  tell  thee,  Adam,  I  will  bet  you  a  bowl  of  punch 
that  Miss  Gray  will  not  dance  with  you  the  next  time 
you  ask  her.  All  I  stipulate  is  to  know  the  day,* 

'I  will  lay  no  bets  about  Miss  Gray,'  said  Hartley; 
'  her  father  is  my  master,  and  I  am  obliged  to  him  —  I 
think  I  should  act  very  scurvily  if  I  were  to  make  her  the 
subject  of  any  idle  debate  betwixt  you  and  me.' 

'Very  right,'  replied  Middlemas;  'you  should  finish 
one  quarrel  before  you  begin  another.  Pray,  saddle  your 
pony,  ride  up  to  the  gate  of  Louponhcight  Castle,  and 

261 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

defy  the  baron  to  mortal  combat  for  having  presumed 
to  touch  the  fair  hand  of  Menie  Gray.' 

'  I  wish  you  would  leave  Miss  Gray's  name  out  of  the 
question,  and  take  your  defiances  to  your  fine  folks  in 
your  own  name,  and  see  what  they  will  say  to  the 
surgeon's  apprentice.' 

'  Speak  for  yourself,  if  you  please,  Mr.  Adam  Hartley. 
I  was  not  born  a  clown,  like  some  folks,  and  should  care 
little,  if  I  saw  it  fit,  to  talk  to  the  best  of  them  at  the 
ordinary,  and  make  myself  understood  too.' 

'Very  likely,'  answered  Hartley,  losing  patience;  'you 
are  one  of  themselves,  you  know  —  Middlemas  of  that 
Ilk.' 

'You  scoundrel!'  said  Richard,  advancing  on  him  in 
fury,  his  taunting  humour  entirely  changed  into  rage. 

'Stand  back,'  said  Hartley,  'or  you  will  come  by  the 
worst;  if  you  will  break  rude  jests,  you  must  put  up  with 
rough  answers.' 

'I  will  have  satisfaction  for  this  insult,  by  Heaven!' 

'Why,  so  you  shall,  if  you  insist  on  it,'  said  Hartley; 
'but  better,  I  think,  to  say  no  more  about  the  matter. 
We  have  both  spoken  what  would  have  been  better  left 
unsaid.  I  was  in  the  wrong  to  say  what  I  said  to  you, 
although  you  did  provoke  me.  And  now  I  have  given 
you  as  much  satisfaction  as  a  reasonable  man  can  ask.' 

'Sir,'  repeated  Middlemas,  'the  satisfaction  which  I 
demand  is  that  of  a  gentleman:  the  doctor  has  a  pair  of 
pistols.' 

'And  a  pair  of  mortars  also,  which  are  heartily  at  your 
service,  gentlemen,'  said  Mr.  Gray,  coming  forward 
from  behind  a  yew  hedge,  where  he  had  listened  to  the 
whole  or  greater  part  of  this  dispute.    'A  fine  story  it 

262 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

would  be  of  my  apprentices  shooting  each  other  with  my 
own  pistols !  Let  me  see  either  of  you  fit  to  treat  a  gun- 
shot wound  before  you  think  of  inflicting  one.  Go,  you 
are  both  very  foolish  boys,  and  I  cannot  take  it  kind  of 
either  of  you  to  bring  the  name  of  my  daughter  into  such 
disputes  as  these.  Hark  ye,  lads,  ye  both  owe  me,  I 
think,  some  portion  of  respect,  and  even  of  gratitude; 
it  will  be  a  poor  return  if,  instead  of  living  quietly  with 
this  poor  motherless  girl,  like  brothers  with  a  sister,  you 
should  oblige  me  to  increase  my  expense,  and  abridge 
my  comfort,  by  sending  my  child  from  me  for  the  few 
months  that  you  are  to  remain  here.  Let  me  see  you 
shake  hands,  and  let  us  have  no  more  of  this  non- 
sense.' 

While  their  master  spoke  in  this  manner,  both  the 
young  men  stood  before  him  in  the  attitude  of  self- 
convicted  criminals.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  rebuke, 
Hartley  turned  frankly  round  and  offered  his  hand  to 
his  companion,  who  accepted  it,  but  after  a  moment's 
hesitation.  There  was  nothing  further  passed  on  the 
subject,  but  the  lads  never  resumed  the  same  sort  of 
intimacy  which  had  existed  betwixt  them  in  their  earlier 
acquaintance.  On  the  contrary,  avoiding  every  con- 
nexion not  absolutely  required  by  their  situation,  and 
abridging  as  much  as  possible  even  their  indispensable 
intercourse  in  professional  matters,  they  seemed  as 
much  estranged  from  each  other  as  two  persons  residing 
in  the  same  small  house  had  the  means  of  being. 

As  for  Menie  Gray,  her  father  did  not  appear  to  enter- 
tain the  least  anxiety  upon  her  account,  although,  from 
his  frequent  and  almost  daily  absence  from  home,  she 
was  exposed  to  constant  intercourse  with  two  handsome 

203 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

young  men,  both,  it  might  be  supposed,  ambitious  of 
pleasing  her  more  than  most  parents  would  have  deemed 
entirely  prudent.  Nor  was  Nurse  Jamieson  —  her  me- 
nial situation  and  her  excessive  partiality  for  her  foster- 
son  considered  —  altogether  such  a  matron  as  could 
afford  her  protection.  Gideon,  however,  knew  that  his 
daughter  possessed,  in  its  fullest  extent,  the  upright  and 
pure  integrity  of  his  own  character,  and  that  never 
father  had  less  reason  to  apprehend  that  a  daughter 
should  deceive  his  confidence;  and,  justly  secure  of  her 
principles,  he  overlooked  the  danger  to  which  he  exposed 
her  feelings  and  affections. 

The  intercourse  betwixt  Menie  and  the  young  men 
seemed  now  of  a  guarded  kind  on  all  sides.  Their  meet- 
ing was  only  at  meals,  and  Miss  Gray  was  at  pains,  per- 
haps by  her  father's  recommendation,  to  treat  them  with 
the  same  degree  of  attention.  This,  however,  was  no 
easy  matter;  for  Hartley  became  so  retiring,  cold,  and 
formal  that  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  sustain  any 
prolonged  intercourse  with  him;  whereas  Middlemas, 
perfectly  at  his  ease,  sustained  his  part  as  formerly  upon 
all  occasions  that  occurred,  and,  without  appearing  to 
press  his  intimacy  assiduously,  seemed  nevertheless  to 
retain  the  complete  possession  of  it. 

The  time  drew  nigh  at  length  when  the  young  men, 
freed  from  the  engagements  of  their  indentures,  must 
look  to  play  their  own  independent  part  in  the  world. 
Mr.  Gray  informed  Richard  Middlemas  that  he  had 
written  pressingly  upon  the  subject  to  Mongada,  and 
that  more  than  once,  but  had  not  yet  received  an  an- 
swer; nor  did  he  presume  to  offer  his  own  advice  until 
the  pleasure   of   his   grandfather   should   be   known. 

264 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Richard  seemed  to  endure  this  suspense  with  more 
patience  than  the  doctor  thought  belonged  naturally 
to  his  character.  He  asked  no  questions,  stated  no 
conjectures,  showed  no  anxiety,  but  seemed  to  await 
with  patience  the  turn  which  events  should  take.  *My 
young  gentleman,'  thought  Mr.  Gray,  'has  either  fixed 
on  some  course  in  his  own  mind,  or  he  is  about  to  be 
more  tractable  than  some  points  of  his  character  have 
led  me  to  expect.' 

In  fact,  Richard  had  made  an  experiment  on  this 
inflexible  relative,  by  sending  Mr.  Mongada  a  letter  full 
of  duty,  and  affection,  and  gratitude,  desiring  to  be 
permitted  to  correspond  with  him  in  person,  and  prom- 
ising to  be  guided  in  every  particular  by  his  will.  The 
answer  to  this  appeal  was  his  own  letter  returned,  with 
a  note  from  the  bankers  whose  cover  had  been  used, 
saying,  that  any  future  attempt  to  intrude  on  Mr. 
Mongada  would  put  a  final  period  to  their  remittances. 

While  things  were  in  this  situation  in  Stevenlaw's 
Land,  Adam  Hartley  one  evening,  contrary  to  his  cus- 
tom for  several  months,  sought  a  private  interview  with 
his  fellow-apprentice.  He  found  him  in  the  little  arbour, 
and  could  not  omit  observing  that  Dick  Middlemas,  on 
his  appearance,  shoved  into  his  bosom  a  small  packet, 
as  if  afraid  of  its  being  seen,  and,  snatching  up  a  hoe, 
began  to  work  with  great  devotion,  like  one  who  wished 
to  have  it  thought  that  his  whole  soul  was  in  his  occu- 
pation. 

'I  wished  to  speak  with  you,  Mr.  Middlemas,'  said 
Hartley;  'but  I  fear  I  interrupt  you.' 

'Not  in  the  least,'  said  the  other,  laying  down  his  hoe; 
*I  was  only  scratching  up  the  weeds  which  the  late 

265 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

showers  have  made  rush  up  so  numerously.  I  am  at  your 
service.' 

Hartley  proceeded  to  the  arbour,  and  seated  himself. 
Richard  imitated  this  example,  and  seemed  to  wait  for 
the  proposed  communication. 

'I  have  had  an  interesting  communication  with  Mr. 
Gray  — '  said  Hartley,  and  there  stopped,  like  one  who 
finds  himself  entering  upon  a  diflEicult  task. 

*I  hope  the  explanation  has  been  satisfactory?'  said 
Middlemas. 

*  You  shall  judge.  Dr.  Gray  was  pleased  to  say  some- 
thing to  me  very  civil  about  my  proficiency  in  the  duties 
of  our  profession;  and,  to  my  great  astonishment,  asked 
me  whether,  as  he  was  now  becoming  old,  I  had  any 
particular  objection  to  continue  in  my  present  situation, 
but  with  some  pecuniary  advantages,  for  two  years 
longer;  at  the  end  of  which  he  promised  to  me  that  I 
should  enter  into  partnership  with  him.' 

'Mr.  Gray  is  an  undoubted  judge,'  said  Middlemas, 
'what  person  will  best  suit  him  as  a  professional  assist- 
ant. The  business  may  be  worth  £200  a  year,  and  an 
active  assistant  might  go  nigh  to  double  it  by  riding 
Strath-Devon  and  the  Carse.  No  great  subject  for 
division  after  all,  Mr.  Hartley.' 

'But,'  continued  Hartley,  'that  is  not  all.  The  doctor 
says  —  he  proposes  —  in  short,  if  I  can  render  myself 
agreeable,  in  the  course  of  these  two  years,  to  Miss 
Menie  Gray  —  he  proposes  that,  when  they  terminate, 
I  should  become  his  son  as  well  as  his  partner.' 

As  he  spoke,  he  kept  his  eye  fixed  on  Richard's  face, 
which  was  for  a  moment  strongly  agitated ;  but  instantly 
recovering,  he  answered,  in  a  tone  where  pique  and 

266 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

offended  pride  vainly  endeavoured  to  disguise  them- 
selves under  an  affectation  of  indifference,  'Well, 
Master  Adam,  I  cannot  but  wish  you  joy  of  the  patri- 
archal arrangement.  You  have  served  five  years  for  a 
professional  diploma  —  a  sort  of  Leah,  that  privilege  of 
killing  and  curing.  Now  you  begin  a  new  course  of 
servitude  for  a  lovely  Rachel.  Undoubtedly  —  perhaps 
it  is  rude  in  me  to  ask — but  undoubtedly  you  have  ac- 
cepted so  flattering  an  arrangement? ' 

*  You  cannot  but  recollect  there  was  a  condition  an- 
nexed,' said  Hartley,  gravely. 

'That  of  rendering  yourself  acceptable  to  a  girl  you 
have  known  for  so  many  years? '  said  Middlemas,  with  a 
half-suppressed  sneer.  *No  great  difficulty  in  that,  I 
should  think,  for  such  a  person  as  Mr.  Hartley,  with 
Dr.  Gray's  favour  to  back  him.  No  —  no,  there  could 
be  no  great  obstacle  there.' 

*  Both  you  and  I  know  the  contrary,  Mr.  Middlemas/ 
said  Hartley,  very  seriously. 

*I  know!  How  should  I  know  anything  more  than 
yourself  about  the  state  of  Miss  Gray's  inclinations?' 
said  Middlemas.  *I  am  sure  we  have  had  equal  access 
to  know  them.' 

'Perhaps  so;  but  some  know  better  how  to  avail 
themselves  of  opportunities.  Mr.  Middlemas,  I  have 
long  suspected  that  you  have  had  the  inestimable  ad- 
vantage of  possessing  Miss  Gray's  affections,  and  — ' 

'I!'  interrupted  Middlemas.  'You  are  jesting,  or  you 
are  jealous.  You  do  yourself  less,  and  me  more,  than 
justice;  but  the  compliment  is  so  great  that  I  am 
obliged  to  you  for  the  mistake.' 

'That  you  may  know,'  answered  Hartley,  'I  do  not 
267 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

speak  either  by  guess  or  from  what  you  call  jealousy, 
I  tell  you  frankly  that  Menie  Gray  herself  told  me 
the  state  of  her  affections.  I  naturally  communicated 
to  her  the  discourse  I  had  with  her  father.  I  told  her  I 
was  but  too  well  convinced  that  at  the  present  moment 
I  did  not  possess  that  interest  in  her  heart  which  alone 
might  entitle  me  to  request  her  acquiescence  in  the 
views  which  her  father's  goodness  held  out  to  me;  but  I 
entreated  her  not  at  once  to  decide  against  me,  but  give 
me  an  opportunity  to  make  way  in  her  affections,  if 
possible,  trusting  that  time,  and  the  services  which  I 
should  render  to  her  father,  might  have  an  ultimate 
effect  in  my  favour.' 

'A  most  natural  and  modest  request.  But  what  did 
the  young  lady  say  in  reply? ' 

'She  is  a  noble-hearted  girl,  Richard  Middlemas;  and 
for  her  frankness  alone,  even  without  her  beauty  and  her 
good  sense,  deserves  an  emperor.  I  cannot  express  the 
graceful  modesty  with  which  she  told  me  that  she  knew 
too  well  the  kindliness,  as  she  was  pleased  to  call  it,  of 
my  heart  to  expose  me  to  the  protracted  pain  of  an 
unrequited  passion.  She  candidly  informed  me  that  she 
had  been  long  engaged  to  you  in  secret,  that  you  had 
exchanged  portraits;  and  though  without  her  father's 
consent  she  would  never  become  yours,  yet  she  felt  it 
impossible  that  she  should  ever  so  far  change  her  senti- 
ments as  to  afford  the  most  distant  prospect  of  success 
to  another.' 

'Upon  my  word,'  said  Middlemas,  'she  has  been 
extremely  candid  indeed,  and  I  am  very  much  obhged 
to  her!' 

'And  upon  my  honest  word,  Mr.  Middlemas,'  re- 

268 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

turned  Hartley,  'you  do  Miss  Gray  the  greatest  injus- 
tice —  nay,  you  are  ungrateful  to  her  —  if  you  are 
displeased  at  her  making  this  declaration.  She  loves 
you  as  a  woman  loves  the  first  object  of  her  affection; 
she  loves  you  better — '  He  stopped,  and  Middlemas 
completed  the  sentence. 

'  Better  than  I  deserve,  perhaps?  Faith,  it  may  well 
be  so,  and  I  love  her  dearly  in  return.  But  after  all,  you 
know,  the  secret  was  mine  as  well  as  hers,  and  it  would 
have  been  better  that  she  had  consulted  me  before 
making  it  public' 

'Mr.  Middlemas,'  said  Hartley,  earnestly,  *if  the  least 
of  this  feehng  on  your  part  arises  from  the  apprehension 
that  your  secret  is  less  safe  because  it  is  in  my  keeping,  I 
can  assure  you  that  such  is  my  grateful  sense  of  Miss 
Gray's  goodness,  in  communicating,  to  save  me  pain, 
an  affair  of  such  deHcacy  to  herself  and  you,  that  wild 
horses  should  tear  me  Hmb  from  limb  before  they  forced 
a  word  of  it  from  my  lips.' 

*  Nay  —  nay,  my  dear  friend,'  said  Middlemas,  with  a 
frankness  of  manner  indicating  a  cordiality  that  had  not 
existed  between  them  for  some  time,  'you  must  allow 
me  to  be  a  little  jealous  in  my  turn.  Your  true  lover 
cannot  have  a  title  to  the  name  unless  he  be  sometimes 
unreasonable;  and  somehow  it  seems  odd  she  should 
have  chosen  for  a  confidant  one  whom  I  have  often 
thought  a  formidable  rival;  and  yet  I  am  so  far  from 
being  displeased,  that  I  do  not  know  that  the  dear, 
sensible  girl  could  after  all  have  made  a  better  choice. 
It  is  time  that  the  fooHsh  coldness  between  us  should  be 
ended,  as  you  must  be  sensible  that  its  real  cause  lay  in 
our  rivalry.  I  have  much  need  of  good  advicCj  and  who 

269 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

can  give  it  to  me  better  than  the  old  companion  whose 
soundness  of  judgment  I  have  always  envied,  even  when 
some  injudicious  friends  have  given  me  credit  for 
quicker  parts?' 

Hartley  accepted  Richard's  proffered  hand,  but  with- 
out any  of  the  buoyancy  of  spirit  with  which  it  was 
offered. 

'I  do  not  intend,'  he  said,  'to  remain  many  days  in 
this  place,  perhaps  not  very  many  hours.  But  if,  in  the 
meanwhile,  I  can  benefit  you,  by  advice  or  otherwise, 
you  may  fully  command  me.  It  is  the  only  mode  in 
which  I  can  be  of  service  to  Menie  Gray.' 

'Love  my  mistress,  love  me;  a  happy  pendant  to  the 
old  proverb,  "Love  me,  love  my  dog."  Well,  then,  for 
Menie  Gray's  sake,  if  not  for  Dick  Middlemas's  — 
plague  on  that  vulgar,  tell-tale  name!  —  will  you,  that 
are  a  stander-by,  tell  us  who  are  the  unlucky  players 
what  you  think  of  this  game  of  ours? ' 

'  How  can  you  ask  such  a  question,  when  the  field  lies 
so  fair  before  you?  I  am  sure  that  Dr.  Gray  would  retain 
you  as  his  assistant  upon  the  same  terms  which  he  pro- 
posed to  me.  You  are  the  better  match,  in  all  worldly 
respects,  for  his  daughter,  having  some  capital  to  begin 
the  world  with.' 

'All  true;  but  methinks  Mr.  Gray  has  showed  no 
great  predilection  for  me  in  this  matter.' 

*If  he  has  done  injustice  to  your  indisputable  merit,' 
said  Hartley,  drily,  '  the  preference  of  his  daughter  has 
more  than  atoned  for  it.' 

'Unquestionably;  and  dearly,  therefore,  do  I  love  her; 
otherwise,  Adam,  I  am  not  a  person  to  grasp  at  the 
leavings  of  other  people.' 

270 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*  Richard,'  replied  Hartley,  'that  pride  of  yours,  if  you 
do  not  check  it,  will  render  you  both  ungrateful  and 
miserable.  Mr.  Gray's  ideas  are  most  friendly.  He  told 
me  plainly  that  his  choice  of  me  as  an  assistant,  and  as 
a  member  of  his  family,  had  been  a  long  time  balanced 
by  his  early  affection  for  you,  until  he  thought  he  had 
remarked  in  you  a  decisive  discontent  with  such  limited 
prospects  as  his  offer  contained,  and  a  desire  to  go 
abroad  into  the  world  and  push,  as  it  is  called,  your 
fortune.  He  said  that,  although  it  was  very  probable 
that  you  might  love  his  daughter  well  enough  to  rehn- 
quish  these  ambitious  ideas  for  her  sake,  yet  the  demons 
of  Ambition  and  Avarice  would  return  after  the  exorciser 
Love  had  exhausted  the  force  of  his  spells,  and  then  he 
thought  he  would  have  just  reason  to  be  anxious  for  his 
daughter's  happiness.' 

'  By  my  faith,  the  worthy  senior  speaks  scholarly  and 
wisely,'  answered  Richard:  'I  did  not  think  he  had  been 
so  clear-sighted.  To  say  the  truth,  but  for  the  beautiful 
Menie  Gray,  I  should  feel  hke  a  mill-horse,  walking  my 
daily  round  in  this  dull  country,  while  other  gay  rovers 
are  trying  how  the  world  will  receive  them.  For  in- 
stance, where  do  you  yourself  go? ' 

*A  cousin  of  my  mother's  commands  a  ship  in  the 
Company's  service.  I  intend  to  go  with  him  as  surgeon's 
mate.  If  I  like  the  sea  service,  I  will  continue  in  it;  if 
not,  I  will  enter  some  other  line.'  This  Hartley  said 
with  a  sigh. 

*To  India!'  answered  Richard;  'happy  dog  —  to 
India!  You  may  well  bear  with  equanimity  all  disap- 
pointments sustained  on  this  side  of  the  globe.  Oh, 
Delhi!  oh^  Golconda!  have  your  names  no  power  to 

271 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

conjure  down  idle  recollections?  India,  where  gold  is 
won  by  steel ;  where  a  brave  man  cannot  pitch  his  desire 
of  fame  and  wealth  so  high  but  that  he  may  realise  it,  if 
he  have  fortune  to  his  friend?  Is  it  possible  that  the  bold 
adventurer  can  fix  his  thoughts  on  you,  and  still  be 
dejected  at  the  thoughts  that  a  bonny  blue-eyed  lass 
looked  favourably  on  a  less  lucky  fellow  than  himseK? 
Can  this  be?' 

'Less  lucky!'  said  Hartley.  *Can  you,  the  accepted 
lover  of  Menie  Gray,  speak  in  that  tone,  even  though  it 
be  in  jest?' 

'Nay,  Adam,'  said  Richard,  'don't  be  angry  with  me 
because,  being  thus  far  successful,  I  rate  my  good 
fortune  not  quite  so  rapturously  as  perhaps  you  do,  who 
have  missed  the  luck  of  it.  Your  philosophy  should  tell 
you  that  the  object  which  we  attain,  or  are  sure  of 
attaining,  loses,  perhaps,  even  by  that  very  certainty,  a 
little  of  the  extravagant  and  ideal  value  which  attached 
to  it  while  the  object  of  feverish  hopes  and  aguish  fears. 
But  for  all  that  I  cannot  live  without  my  sweet  Menie. 
I  would  wed  her  to-morrow,  with  all  my  soul,  without 
thinking  a  minute  on  the  clog  which  so  early  a  marriage 
would  fasten  on  our  heels.  But  to  spend  two  additional 
years  in  this  infernal  wilderness,  cruising  after  crowns 
and  half-crowns,  when  worse  men  are  making  lacs  and 
crores  of  rupees  —  it  is  a  sad  falling  off,  Adam.  Counsel 
me,  my  friend;  can  you  not  suggest  some  mode  of  getting 
off  from  these  two  years  of  destined  dulness?' 

'Not  I,'  replied  Hartley,  scarce  repressing  his  dis- 
pleasure; 'and  if  I  could  induce  Dr.  Gray  to  dispense 
with  so  reasonable  a  condition,  I  should  be  very  sorry 
to  do  so.  You  are  but  twenty-one,  and  if  such  a  period 

272 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

of  probation  was,  in  the  doctor's  prudence,  judged 
necessary  for  me,  who  am  full  two  years  older,  I  have  no 
idea  that  he  will  dispense  with  it  in  yours.' 

'Perhaps  not,'  replied  Middlemas;  'but  do  you  not 
think  that  these  two,  or  call  them  three,  years  of  pro- 
bation had  better  be  spent  in  India,  where  much  may  be 
done  in  a  Uttle  while,  than  here,  where  nothing  can  be 
done  save  just  enough  to  get  salt  to  our  broth,  or  broth 
to  our  salt?  Methinks  I  have  a  natural  turn  for  India, 
and  so  I  ought.  My  father  was  a  soldier,  by  the  conjec- 
ture of  all  who  saw  him,  and  gave  me  a  love  of  the 
sword,  and  an  arm  to  use  one.  My  mother's  father  was 
a  rich  trafficker ,  who  loved  wealth,  I  warrant  me,  and 
knew  how  to  get  it.  This  petty  two  hundred  a  year, 
with  its  miserable  and  precarious  possibilities,  to  be 
shared  with  the  old  gentleman,  sounds  in  the  ears  of 
one  like  me,  who  have  the  world  for  the  winning,  and  a 
sword  to  cut  my  way  through  it,  like  something  little 
better  than  a  decent  kind  of  beggary.  Menie  is  in  herself 
a  gem  —  a  diamond  —  I  admit  it.  But  then  one  would 
not  set  such  a  precious  jewel  in  lead  or  copper,  but  in 
pure  gold  —  ay,  and  add  a  circlet  of  brilHants  to  set  it 
off  with.  Be  a  good  fellow,  Adam,  and  undertake  the 
setting  my  project  in  proper  colours  before  the  doctor. 
I  am  sure  the  wisest  thing  for  him  and  Menie  both  is  to 
permit  me  to  spend  this  short  time  of  probation  in  the 
land  of  cowries.  I  am  sure  my  heart  will  be  there  at  any 
rate,  and  while  I  am  bleeding  some  bumpkin  for  an 
inflammation,  I  shall  be  in  fancy  relieving  some  nabob 
or  rajahpoot  of  his  plethora  of  wealth.  Come,  will  you 
assist  —  will  you  be  auxiliary?  Ten  chances  but  you 
plead  your  own  cause,  man,  for  I  may  be  brought  up  by 
44  273 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

a  sabre  or  a  bow-string  before  I  make  my  pack  up;  then 
your  road  to  Menie  will  be  free  and  open,  and,  as  you 
will  be  possessed  of  the  situation  of  comforter  ex  officio, 
you  may  take  her  "with  the  tear  in  her  ee,"  as  old  saws 
advise.' 

*Mr.  Richard  Middlemas,'  said  Hartley,  'I  wish  it 
were  possible  for  me  to  tell  you,  in  the  few  words  which  I 
intend  to  bestow  on  you,  whether  I  pity  you  or  despise 
you  the  most.  Heaven  has  placed  happiness,  compe- 
tence, and  content  within  your  power,  and  you  are  will- 
ing to  cast  them  away  to  gratify  ambition  and  avarice. 
Were  I  to  give  an  advice  on  this  subject,  either  to  Dr. 
Gray  or  his  daughter,  it  would  be  to  break  off  all  con- 
nexion with  a  man  who,  however  clever  by  nature,  may 
soon  show  himself  a  fool,  and  however  honestly  brought 
up,  may  also,  upon  temptation,  prove  himself  a  villain. 
You  may  lay  aside  the  sneer  which  is  designed  to  be  a 
sarcastic  smile.  I  will  not  attempt  to  do  this,  because  I 
am  convinced  that  my  advice  would  be  of  no  use,  unless 
it  could  come  unattended  with  suspicion  of  my  motives. 
I  will  hasten  my  departure  from  this  house,  that  we  may 
not  meet  again;  and  I  will  leave  it  to  God  Almighty 
to  protect  honesty  and  innocence  against  the  dangers 
which  must  attend  vanity  and  folly.'  So  saying,  he 
turned  contemptuously  from  the  youthful  votary  of 
ambition,  and  left  the  garden. 

'Stop,'  said  Middlemas,  struck  with  the  picture  which 
had  been  held  up  to  his  conscience  —  'stop,  Adam  Hart- 
ley, and  I  will  confess  to  you  —  '  But  his  words  were 
uttered  in  a  faint  and  hesitating  manner,  and  either 
never  reached  Hartley's  ear  or  failed  in  changing  his 
purpose  of  departure. 

274 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

When  he  was  out  of  the  garden,  Middlemas  began  to 
recall  his  usual  boldness  of  disposition.  '  Had  he  stayed  a 
moment  longer,'  he  said,  'I  would  have  turned  Papist, 
and  made  him  my  ghostly  confessor.  The  yeomanly 
churl !  I  would  give  something  to  know  how  he  has  got 
such  a  hank  over  me.  What  are  Menie  Gray's  engage- 
ments to  him?  She  has  given  him  his  answer,  and  what 
right  has  he  to  come  betwixt  her  and  me?  If  old  Mon- 
gada  had  done  a  grandfather's  duty,  and  made  suitable 
settlements  on  me,  this  plan  of  marrying  the  sweet  girl 
and  settling  here  in  her  native  place  might  have  done 
well  enough.  But  to  live  the  life  of  the  poor  drudge  her 
father  —  to  be  at  the  command  and  call  of  every  boor 
for  twenty  miles  round !  —  why,  the  labours  of  a  higgler, 
who  travels  scores  of  miles  to  barter  pins,  ribands,  snuff, 
and  tobacco  against  the  housewife's  private  stock  of 
eggs,  mort-skins,  and  tallow,  is  more  profitable,  less 
laborious,  and  faith,  I  think,  equally  respectable.  No  — 
no,  unless  I  can  find  wealth  nearer  home,  I  will  seek  it 
where  every  one  can  have  it  for  the  gathering ;  and  so  I 
will  down  to  the  Swan  Inn  and  hold  a  final  consultation 
with  my  friend.' 


CHAPTER  V 

The  friend  whom  Middlemas  expected  to  meet  at  the 
Swan  was  a  person  already  mentioned  in  this  history  by 
the  name  of  Tom  Hillary,  bred  an  attorney's  clerk  in  the 
ancient  town  of  Novum  Castrum,  doctus  utriusque  juris, 
as  far  as  a  few  months  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Lawford, 
town-clerk  of  Middlemas,  could  render  him  so.  The  last 
mention  that  we  made  of  this  gentleman  was  when  his 
gold-laced  hat  veiled  its  splendour  before  the  fresher- 
mounted  beavers  of  the  'prentices  of  Dr.  Gray.  That 
was  now  about  five  years  since,  and  it  was  within  six 
months  that  he  had  made  his  appearance  in  Middlemas, 
a  very  different  sort  of  personage  from  that  which  he 
seemed  at  his  departure. 

He  was  now  called  Captain;  his  dress  was  regimental, 
and  his  language  martial.  He  seemed  to  have  plenty  of 
cash,  for  he  not  only,  to  the  great  surprise  of  the  parties, 
paid  certain  old  debts  which  he  had  left  unsettled  be- 
hind him,  and  that  notwithstanding  his  having,  as  his 
old  practice  told  him,  a  good  defence  of  prescription,  but 
even  sent  the  minister  a  guinea  to  the  assistance  of  the 
parish  poor.  These  acts  of  justice  and  benevolence  were 
bruited  abroad  greatly  to  the  honour  of  one  who,  so  long 
absent,  had  neither  forgotten  his  just  debts  nor  hardened 
his  heart  against  the  cries  of  the  needy.  His  merits  were 
thought  the  higher  when  it  was  understood  he  had  served 
the  Honourable  East  India  Company  —  that  wonderful 
company  of  merchants,  who  may  indeed,  with  the  strict- 

276 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

est  propriety,  be  termed  princes.  It  was  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  directors  in  Lead- 
enhall  Street  were  silently  laying  the  foundation  of  that 
immense  empire  which  afterwards  rose  like  an  exhala- 
tion, and  now  astonishes  Europe,  as  well  as  Asia,  with 
its  formidable  extent  and  stupendous  strength.  Britain 
had  now  begun  to  lend  a  wondering  ear  to  the  account  of 
battles  fought  and  cities  won  in  the  East ;  and  was  sur- 
prised by  the  return  of  individuals  who  had  left  their 
native  country  as  adventurers,  but  now  reappeared 
there  surrounded  by  Oriental  wealth  and  Oriental  lux- 
ury, which  dimmed  even  the  splendour  of  the  most 
wealthy  of  the  British  nobihty.  In  this  new-found  El 
Dorado,  Hillary  had,  it  seems,  been  a  labourer,  and,  if  he 
told  truth,  to  some  purpose,  though  he  was  far  from  hav- 
ing completed  the  harvest  which  he  meditated.  He  spoke, 
indeed,  of  making  investments,  and,  as  a  mere  matter  of 
fancy,  he  consulted  his  old  master.  Clerk  Lawford,  con- 
cerning the  purchase  of  a  moorland  farm  of  three  thou- 
sand acres,  for  which  he  would  be  content  to  give  three 
or  four  thousand  guineas,  providing  the  game  was  plenty 
and  the  trouting  in  the  brook  such  as  had  been  repre- 
sented by  advertisement.  But  he  did  not  wish  to  make 
any  extensive  landed  purchase  at  present.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  keep  up  his  interest  in  Leadenhall  Street;  and  in 
that  view,  it  would  be  impolitic  to  part  with  his  India 
stock  and  India  bonds.  In  short,  it  was  folly  to  think  of 
settling  on  a  poor  thousand  or  twelve  hundred  a  year, 
when  one  was  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  had  no  liver  com- 
plaint; and  so  he  was  determined  to  double  the  Cape 
once  again  ere  he  retired  to  the  chimney-corner  for  life. 
All  he  wished  was,  to  pick  up  a  few  clever  fellows  for  his 

277 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

regiment,  or  rather  for  his  own  company;  and  as  in  all  his 
travels  he  had  never  seen  finer  fellows  than  about  Mid- 
dlemas,  he  was  willing  to  give  them  the  preference  in 
completing  his  levy.  In  fact,  it  was  making  men  of 
them  at  once,  for  a  few  white  faces  never  failed  to  strike 
terror  into  these  black  rascals ;  and  then,  not  to  mention 
the  good  things  that  were  going  at  the  storming  of  a  pet- 
tah  or  the  plundering  of  a  pagoda,  most  of  these  tawny 
dogs  carried  so  much  treasure  about  their  persons  that  a 
won  battle  was  equal  to  a  mine  of  gold  to  the  victors. 

The  natives  of  Middlemas  listened  to  the  noble  cap- 
tain's marvels  with  different  feelings,  as  their  tempera- 
ments were  saturnine  or  sanguine.  But  none  could  deny 
that  such  things  had  been ;  and  as  the  narrator  was  known 
to  be  a  bold,  dashing  fellow,  possessed  of  some  abilities, 
and,  according  to  the  general  opinion,  not  likely  to  be 
withheld  by  any  peculiar  scruples  of  conscience,  there 
was  no  giving  any  good  reason  why  Hillary  should  not 
have  been  as  successful  as  others  in  the  field  which  India, 
agitated  as  it  was  by  war  and  intestine  disorders,  seemed 
to  offer  to  every  enterprising  adventurer.  He  was  ac- 
cordingly received  by  his  old  acquaintances  at  Middle- 
mas rather  with  the  respect  due  to  his  supposed  wealth 
than  in  a  manner  corresponding  with  his  former  humble 
pretensions. 

Some  of  the  notables  of  the  village  did  indeed  keep 
aloof.  Among  these,  the  chief  was  Dr.  Gray,  who  was  an 
enemy  to  everything  that  approached  to  fanfaronade, 
and  knew  enough  of  the  world  to  lay  it  down  as  a  sort  of 
general  rule  that  he  who  talks  a  great  deal  of  fighting  is 
seldom  a  brave  soldier,  and  he  who  always  speaks  about 
wealth  is  seldom  a  rich  man  at  bottom.   Clerk  Lawford 

278 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

was  also  shy,  notwithstanding  his  communings  with 
Hillary  upon  the  subject  of  his  intended  purchase.  The 
coolness  of  the  captain's  old  employer  towards  him  was 
by  some  supposed  to  arise  out  of  certain  circumstances 
attending  their  former  connexion ;  but  as  the  clerk  him- 
self never  explained  what  these  were,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  make  any  conjectures  upon  the  subject. 

Richard  Middlemas  very  naturally  renewed  his  inti- 
macy with  his  former  comrade,  and  it  was  from  Hillary's 
conversation  that  he  had  adopted  the  enthusiasm  re- 
specting India  which  we  have  heard  him  express.  It  was 
indeed  impossible  for  a  youth  at  once  inexperienced  in 
the  world  and  possessed  of  a  most  sanguine  disposition 
to  listen  without  sympathy  to  the  glowing  descriptions 
of  Hillary,  who,  though  only  a  recruiting  captain,  had  all 
the  eloquence  of  a  recruiting  sergeant.  Palaces  rose  Hke 
mushrooms  in  his  descriptions ;  groves  of  lofty  trees  and 
aromatic  shrubs,  unknown  to  the  chilly  soils  of  Europe, 
were  tenanted  by  every  object  of  the  chase,  from  the 
royal  tiger  down  to  the  jackall.  The  luxuries  of  a  natch, 
and  the  peculiar  Oriental  beauty  of  the  enchantresses 
who  performed  their  voluptuous  Eastern  dances  for  the 
pleasure  of  the  haughty  EngHsh  conquerors,  were  no  less 
attractive  than  the  battles  and  sieges  on  which  the  cap- 
tain at  other  times  expatiated.  Not  a  stream  did  he  men- 
tion but  flowed  over  sands  of  gold,  and  not  a  palace  that 
was  inferior  to  those  of  the  celebrated  Fata  Morgana. 
His  descriptions  seemed  steeped  in  odours,  and  his  every 
phrase  perfumed  in  ottar  of  roses.  The  interviews  at 
which  these  descriptions  took  place  often  ended  in  a 
bottle  of  choicer  wine  than  the  Swan  Inn  afforded,  with 
some  other  appendages  of  the  table,  which  the  captain, 

279 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

who  was  a  bon  vivant,  had  procured  from  Edinburgh. 
From  this  good  cheer  Middlemas  was  doomed  to  retire 
to  the  homely  evening  meal  of  his  master,  where  not  all 
the  simple  beauties  of  Menie  were  able  to  overcome  his 
disgust  at  the  coarseness  of  the  provisions,  or  his  unwill- 
ingness to  answer  questions  concerning  the  diseases  of 
the  wretched  peasants  who  were  subjected  to  his  inspec- 
tion. 

Richard's  hopes  of  being  acknowledged  by  his  father 
had  long  since  vanished,  and  the  rough  repulse  and  sub- 
sequent neglect  on  the  part  of  Mongada  had  satisfied 
him  that  his  grandfather  was  inexorable,  and  that  neither 
then  nor  at  any  future  time  did  he  mean  to  realise  the 
visions  which  Nurse  Jamieson's  splendid  figments  had 
encouraged  him  to  entertain.  Ambition,  however,  was 
not  lulled  to  sleep,  though  it  was  no  longer  nourished  by 
the  same  hopes  which  had  at  first  awakened  it.  The 
Indian  captain's  lavish  oratory  suppHed  the  themes 
which  had  been  at  first  derived  from  the  legends  of  the 
nursery;  the  exploits  of  a  Lawrence  and  a  Clive,  as  well 
as  the  magnificent  opportunities  of  acquiring  wealth  to 
which  these  exploits  opened  the  road,  disturbed  the  slum- 
bers of  the  young  adventurer.  There  was  nothing  to 
counteract  these  except  his  love  for  Menie  Gray  and  the 
engagements  into  which  it  had  led  him .  But  his  addresses 
had  been  paid  to  Menie  as  much  for  the  gratification  of 
his  vanity  as  from  any  decided  passion  for  that  innocent 
and  guileless  being.  He  was  desirous  of  carrying  off  the 
prize  for  which  Hartley,  whom  he  never  loved,  had  the 
courage  to  contend  with  him.  Then  Menie  Gray  had 
been  beheld  with  admiration  by  men  his  superiors  in 
rank  and  fortune,  but  with  whom  his  ambition  incited 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

him  to  dispute  the  prize.  No  doubt,  though  urged  to 
play  the  gallant  at  first  rather  from  vanity  than  any 
other  cause,  the  frankness  and  modesty  with  which  his 
suit  was  admitted  made  their  natural  impression  on  his 
heart.  He  was  grateful  to  the  beautiful  creature  who 
acknowledged  the  superiority  of  his  person  and  accom- 
plishments, and  fancied  himself  as  devotedly  attached 
to  her  as  her  personal  charms  and  mental  merits  would 
have  rendered  any  one  who  was  less  vain  or  selfish  than 
her  lover.  Still  his  passion  for  the  surgeon's  daughter 
ought  not,  he  prudentially  determined,  to  bear  more 
than  its  due  weight  in  a  case  so  very  important  as  the 
determining  his  line  of  fife;  and  this  he  smoothed  over 
to  his  conscience  by  repeating  to  himself  that  Menie's 
interest  was  as  essentially  concerned  as  his  own  in  post- 
poning their  marriage  to  the  estabhshment  of  his  for- 
tune. How  many  young  couples  had  been  ruined  by  a 
premature  union! 

The  contemptuous  conduct  of  Hartley  in  their  last 
interview  had  done  something  to  shake  his  comrade's 
confidence  in  the  truth  of  this  reasoning,  and  to  lead  him 
to  suspect  that  he  was  playing  a  very  sordid  and  unmanly 
part  in  trifling  with  the  happiness  of  this  amiable  and 
unfortunate  young  woman.  It  was  in  this  doubtful 
humour  that  he  repaired  to  the  Swan  Inn,  where  he  was 
anxiously  expected  by  his  friend  the  captain 

When  they  were  comfortably  seated  over  a  bottle  of 
Paxarete,  Middlemas  began,  with  characteristical  cau- 
tion, to  sound  his  friend  about  the  ease  or  difficulty  with 
which  an  individual,  desirous  of  entering  the  Company's 
service,  might  have  an  opportunity  of  getting  a  commis- 
sion. If  Hillary  had  answered  truly,  he  would  have  re- 

281 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

plied  that  it  was  extremely  easy;  for,  at  that  time,  the 
East  India  service  presented  no  charms  to  that  superior 
class  of  people  who  have  since  struggled  for  admittance 
under  its  banners.  But  the  worthy  captain  rephed  that, 
though  in  the  general  case  it  might  be  difficult  for  a 
young  man  to  obtain  a  commission  without  serving  for 
some  years  as  a  cadet,  yet,  under  his  own  protection,  a 
young  man  entering  his  regiment,  and  fitted  for  such  a 
situation,  might  be  sure  of  an  ensigncy,  if  not  a  lieuten- 
ancy, as  soon  as  ever  they  set  foot  in  India.  'If  you,  my 
dear  fellow,'  continued  he,  extending  his  hand  to  Middle- 
mas,  'would  think  of  changing  sheep-head  broth  and 
haggis  for  mulligatawny  and  curry,  I  can  only  say  that, 
though  it  is  indispensable  that  you  should  enter  the  serv- 
ice at  first  simply  as  a  cadet,  yet,  by ,  you  should 

live  like  a  brother  on  the  passage  with  me;  and  no  soonef 
were  we  through  the  surf  at  Madras  than  I  would  put 
you  in  the  way  of  acquiring  both  wealth  and  glory.  You 
have,  I  think,  some  trifle  of  money  —  a  couple  of  thou- 
sands or  so? ' 

'About  a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred,'  said  Richard, 
affecting  the  indifference  of  his  companion,  but  feeling 
privately  humbled  by  the  scantiness  of  his  resources. 

'  It  is  quite  as  much  as  you  will  find  necessary  for  the 
outfit  and  passage,'  said  his  adviser;  'and,  indeed,  if  you 
had  not  a  farthing,  it  would  be  the  same  thing;  for  if  I 
once  say  to  a  friend,  "  I  '11  help  you,"  Tom  Hillary  is  not 
the  man  to  start  for  fear  of  the  cowries.  However,  it  is  as 
well  you  have  something  of  a  capital  of  your  own  to 
begin  upon.' 

'  Yes,'  replied  the  proselyte.  *I  should  not  like  to  be  a 
burden  on  any  one.  I  have  some  thoughts,  to  tell  you  the 

282 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

truth,  to  marry  before  I  leave  Britain;  and  in  that  case, 
you  know,  cash  will  be  necessary,  whether  my  wife  goes 
out  with  us  or  remains  behind  till  she  hear  how  luck  goes 
with  me.  So,  after  all,  I  may  have  to  borrow  a  few  hun- 
dreds of  you.' 

'What  the  devil  is  that  you  say,  Dick,  about  marrying 
and  giving  in  marriage?'  replied  his  friend.  'What  can 
put  it  into  the  head  of  a  gallant  young  fellow  like  you, 
just  rising  twenty-one,  and  six  feet  high  on  your  stock- 
ing-soles, to  make  a  slave  of  yourself  for  life?  No  —  no, 
Dick,  that  will  never  do.  Remember  the  old  song  — 

Bachelor  Bluff,  bachelor  Bluflf, 

Hey  for  a  heart  that's  rugged  and  tough!' 

*  Ay  —  ay,  that  sounds  very  well,'  replied  Middlemas; 
*but  then  one  must  shake  o£E  a  number  of  old  recollec- 
tions.' 

'The  sooner  the  better,  Dick;  old  recollections  are  like 
old  clothes,  and  should  be  sent  off  by  wholesale:  they 
only  take  up  room  in  one's  wardrobe,  and  it  would  be 
old-fashioned  to  wear  them.  But  you  look  grave  upon 
it.  Who  the  devil  is  it  has  made  such  a  hole  in  your 
heart?' 

'Pshaw!'  answered  Middlemas,  'I'm  sure  you  must 
remember  —  Menie  —  my  master's  daughter.' 

'What,  Miss  Green,  the  old  potter-carrier's  daughter? 
A  likely  girl  enough,  I  think.' 

'  My  master  is  a  surgeon,'  said  Richard, '  not  an  apoth- 
ecary, and  his  name  is  Gray.' 

'Ay  —  ay,  Green  or  Gray  —  what  does  it  signify?  He 
sells  his  own  drugs,  I  think,  which  we  in  the  south  call 
being  a  potter-carrier.   The  girl  is  a  likely  girl  enough 

283 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

for  a  Scottish  ball-room.  But  is  she  up  to  anything?  Has 
she  any  nouz  V 

'Why,  she  is  a  sensible  girl,  save  in  loving  me/  an- 
swered Richard;  'and  that,  as  Benedict  says,  is  no  proof 
of  her  wisdom  and  no  great  argument  of  her  folly.' 

*  But  has  she  spirit  —  spunk  —  dash  —  a  spice  of  the 
devil  about  her? ' 

*  Not  a  pennyweight — the  kindest,  simplest,  and  most 
manageable  of  human  beings,'  answered  the  lover. 

'She  won't  do,  then,'  said  the  monitor,  in  a  decisive 
tone.  '  I  am  sorry  for  it,  Dick,  but  she  will  never  do. 
There  are  some  women  in  the  world  that  can  bear  their 
share  in  the  bustling  life  we  live  in  India  —  ay,  and  I 
have  known  some  of  them  drag  forward  husbands  that 
would  otherwise  have  stuck  fast  in  the  mud  till  the  day 
of  judgment.  Heaven  knows  how  they  paid  the  turnpikes 
they  pushed  them  through !  But  these  were  none  of  your 
simple  Susans,  that  think  their  eyes  are  good  for  nothing 
but  to  look  at  their  husbands,  or  their  fingers  but  to  sew 
baby-clothes.  Depend  on  it,  you  must  give  up  your  mat- 
rimony or  your  views  of  preferment.  If  you  wilfully  tie 
a  log  round  your  throat,  never  think  of  running  a  race. 
But  do  not  suppose  that  your  breaking  ofif  with  the  lass 
will  make  any  very  terrible  catastrophe.  A  scene  there 
may  be  at  parting;  but  you  will  soon  forget  her  among 
the  native  girls,  and  she  will  fall  in  love  with  Mr.  Tapeit- 
out,  the  minister's  assistant  and  successor.  She  is  not 
goods  for  the  Indian  market,  I  assure  you.' 

Among  the  capricious  weaknesses  of  humanity,  that 
one  is  particularly  remarkable  which  inclines  us  to  esteem 
persons  and  things  not  by  their  real  value,  or  even  by  our 
own  judgment,  so  much  as  by  the  opinion  of  others,  who 

284 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

are  often  very  incompetent  judges.  Dick  Middlemas 
had  been  urged  forward  in  his  suit  to  Menie  Gray  by  his 
observing  how  much  her  partner,  a  booby  laird,  had 
been  captivated  by  her;  and  she  was  now  lowered  in  his 
esteem  because  an  impudent,  low-lived  coxcomb  had 
presumed  to  talk  of  her  with  disparagement.  Either  of 
these  worthy  gentlemen  would  have  been  as  capable  of 
enjoying  the  beauties  of  Homer  as  judging  of  the  merits 
of  Menie  Gray. 

Indeed,  the  ascendancy  which  this  bold-talking,  prom- 
ise-making soldier  had  acquired  over  Dick  Middlemas, 
wilful  as  he  was  in  general,  was  of  a  despotic  nature; 
because  the  captain,  though  greatly  inferior  in  informa- 
tion and  talent  to  the  youth  whose  opinions  he  swayed, 
had  skill  in  suggesting  those  tempting  views  of  rank  and 
wealth  to  which  Richard's  imagination  had  been  from 
childhood  most  accessible.  One  promise  he  exacted  from 
Middlemas,  as  a  condition  of  the  services  which  he  was 
to  render  him :  it  was  absolute  silence  on  the  subject  of 
his  destination  for  India,  and  the  views  upon  which  it 
took  place.  'My  recruits,'  said  the  captain,  *have  been 
all  marched  oflf  for  the  depot  at  the  Isle  of  Wight;  and  I 
want  to  leave  Scotland,  and  particularly  this  little  burgh 
without  being  worried  to  death,  of  which  I  must  despair, 
should  it  come  to  be  known  that  I  can  provide  young 
griffins,  as  we  call  them,  with  commissions.  Gad,  I  should 
carry  oflf  all  the  first-born  of  Middlemas  as  cadets,  and 
none  are  so  scrupulous  as  I  am  about  making  promises. 
I  am  as  trusty  as  a  Trojan  for  that ;  and  you  know  I  can- 
not do  that  for  every  one  which  I  would  for  an  old  friend 
like  Dick  Middlemas.' 

Dick  promised  secrecy,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  two 

2S5 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

friends  should  not  even  leave  the  burgh  in  company,  but 
that  the  captain  should  set  off  first,  and  his  recruit  should 
join  him  at  Edinburgh,  where  liis  enlistment  might  be 
attested;  and  then  they  were  to  travel  together  to  town, 
and  arrange  matters  for  their  Indian  voyage. 

Notwithstanding  the  definitive  arrangement  which 
was  thus  made  for  his  departure,  Middlemas  thought 
from  time  to  time  with  anxiety  and  regret  about  quitting 
Menie  Gray,  after  the  engagement  which  had  passed 
between  them.  The  resolution  was  taken,  however;  the 
blow  was  necessarily  to  be  struck;  and  her  ungrateful 
lover,  long  since  determined  against  the  hfe  of  domestic 
happiness  which  he  might  have  enjoyed  had  his  views 
been  better  regulated,  was  now  occupied  with  the  means, 
not  indeed  of  breaking  off  with  her  entirely,  but  of  post- 
poning all  thoughts  of  their  union  until  the  success  of  his 
expedition  to  India. 

He  might  have  spared  himself  all  anxiety  on  this  last 
subject.  The  wealth  of  that  India  to  which  he  was  boimd 
would  not  have  bribed  Menie  Gray  to  have  left  her 
father's  roof  against  her  father's  commands;  still  less 
when,  deprived  of  his  two  assistants,  he  must  be  reduced 
to  the  necessity  of  continued  exertion  in  his  declining 
life,  and  therefore  might  have  accounted  himself  alto- 
gether deserted  had  his  daughter  departed  from  him  at 
the  same  time.  But  though  it  would  have  been  her  unal- 
terable determination  not  to  accept  any  proposal  of  an 
immediate  union  of  their  fortunes,  Menie  could  not,  with 
all  a  lover's  power  of  self-deception,  succeed  in  persuad- 
ing herself  to  be  satisfied  with  Richard's  conduct  towards 
her.  Modesty  and  a  becoming  pride  prevented  her  from 
seeming  to  notice,  but  could  not  prevent  her  from  bit- 

2S6 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

terly  feeling,  that  her  lover  was  preferring  the  pursuits  of 
ambition  to  the  humble  lot  which  he  might  have  shared 
with  her,  and  which  promised  content  at  least,  if  not 
wealth. 

'If  he  had  loved  me  as  he  pretended,'  such  was  the 
unwilling  conviction  that  rose  on  her  mind,  'my  father 
would  surely  not  have  ultimately  refused  him  the  same 
terms  which  he  held  out  to  Hartley.  His  objections  would 
have  given  way  to  my  happiness,  nay,  to  Richard's  im- 
portunities, which  would  have  removed  his  suspicions 
of  the  unsettled  cast  of  his  disposition.  But  I  fear  —  I 
fear  Richard  hardly  thought  the  terms  proposed  were 
worthy  of  his  acceptance.  Would  it  not  have  been  natu- 
ral, too,  that  he  should  have  asked  me,  engaged  as  we 
stand  to  each  other,  to  have  united  our  fate  before  his 
quitting  Europe,  when  I  might  either  have  remained 
here  with  my  father,  or  accompanied  him  to  India,  in 
quest  of  that  fortune  which  he  is  so  eagerly  pushing  for? 
It  would  have  been  wrong  —  very  wrong — in  me  to  have 
consented  to  such  a  proposal,  unless  my  father  had  au- 
thorised it;  but  surely  it  would  have  been  natural  that 
Richard  should  have  offered  it?  Alas !  men  do  not  know 
how  to  love  like  women.  Their  attachment  is  only  one  of 
a  thousand  other  passions  and  predilections:  they  are 
daily  engaged  in  pleasures  which  blunt  their  feelings,  and 
in  business  which  distracts  them.  We — we  sit  at  home  to 
weep,  and  to  think  how  coldly  our  affections  are  repaid ! ' 

The  time  was  now  arrived  at  which  Richard  Middle- 
mas  had  a  right  to  demand  the  property  vested  in  the 
hands  of  the  town-clerk  and  Dr.  Gray.  He  did  so,  and 
received  it  accordingly.  His  late  guardian  naturally 
inquired  what  views  he  had  formed  in  entering  on  life? 

2S7 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  imagination  of  the  ambitious  aspirant  saw  in  this 
simple  question  a  desire,  on  the  part  of  the  worthy  man, 
to  offer,  and  perhaps  press  upon  him,  the  same  proposal 
which  he  had  made  to  Hartley.  He  hastened,  therefore, 
to  answer  drily,  that  he  had  some  hopes  held  out  to  him 
which  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  communicate;  but  that 
the  instant  he  reached  London  he  would  write  to  the 
guardian  of  his  youth  and  acquaint  him  with  the  nature 
of  his  prospects,  which  he  was  happy  to  say  were  rather 
of  a  pleasing  character. 

Gideon,  who  supposed  that  at  this  critical  period  of 
his  life  the  father  or  grandfather  of  the  young  man  might 
perhaps  have  intimated  a  disposition  to  open  some  inter- 
course with  him,  only  replied,  'You  have  been  the  child 
of  mystery,  Richard;  and  as  you  came  to  me,  so  you  leave 
me.  Then  I  was  ignorant  from  whence  you  came,  and 
now  I  know  not  whither  you  are  going.  It  is  not,  perhaps, 
a  very  favourable  point  in  your  horoscope  that  every- 
thing connected  with  you  is  a  secret.  But  as  I  shall  al- 
ways think  with  kindness  on  him  whom  I  have  known  so 
long,  so  when  you  remember  the  old  man,  you  ought  not 
to  forget  that  he  has  done  his  duty  to  you  to  the  extent 
of  his  means  and  power,  and  taught  you  that  noble  pro- 
fession by  means  of  which,  wherever  your  lot  casts 
you,  you  may  always  gain  your  bread,  and  alleviate,  at 
the  same  time,  the  distresses  of  your  fellow-creatures.' 
Middlemas  was  excited  by  the  simple  kindness  of  his 
master,  and  poured  forth  his  thanks  with  the  greater  pro- 
fusion, that  he  was  free  from  the  terror  of  the  emblemati- 
cal collar  and  chain,  which  a  moment  before  seemed  to 
glisten  in  the  hand  of  his  guardian,  and  gape  to  inclose 
his  neck. 

288 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*One  word  more/  said  Mr,  Gray,  producing  a  small 
ring-case.  'This  valuable  ring  was  forced  upon  me  by 
your  unfortunate  mother.  I  have  no  right  to  it,  having 
been  amply  paid  for  my  services;  and  I  only  accepted  it 
with  the  purpose  of  keeping  it  for  you  till  this  moment 
should  arrive.  It  may  be  useful,  perhaps,  should  there 
occur  any  question  about  your  identity.' 

'Thanks,  once  more,  my  more  than  father,  for  this 
precious  relic,  which  may  indeed  be  useful.  You  shall  be 
repaid,  if  India  has  diamonds  left.' 

'India  and  diamonds!'  said  Gray.  'Is  your  head 
turned,  child?' 

'I  mean,'  stammered  Middlemas,  'if  London  has  any 
Indian  diamonds.' 

'Pooh!  you  foolish  lad,' answered  Gray,  'how  should 
you  buy  diamonds,  or  what  should  I  do  with  them,  if  you 
gave  me  ever  so  many?  Get  you  gone  with  you  while  I 
am  angry.'  The  tears  were  glistening  in  the  old  man's 
eyes.  'If  I  get  pleased  with  you  again,  I  shall  not  know 
how  to  part  with  you.' 

The  parting  of  Middlemas  with  poor  Menie  v/as  yet 
more  affecting.  Her  sorrow  revived  in  his  mind  all  the 
livehness  of  a  first  love,  and  he  redeemed  his  character 
for  sincere  attachment  by  not  only  imploring  an  instant 
union,  but  even  going  so  far  as  to  propose  renouncing  his 
more  splendid  prospects,  and  sharing  Mr.  Gray's  humble 
toil,  if  by  doing  so  he  could  secure  his  daughter's  hand. 
But,  though  there  was  consolation  in  this  testimony  of 
her  lover's  faith,  Menie  Gray  was  not  so  unwise  as  to 
accept  of  sacrifices  which  might  afterwards  have  been 
repented  of. 

'No,  Richard,'  she  said,  'it  seldom  ends  happily  when 
44  2S9 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

people  alter,  in  a  moment  of  agitated  feeling,  plans  which 
have  been  adopted  under  mature  deliberation.  I  have 
long  seen  that  your  views  were  extended  far  beyond  so 
humble  a  station  as  this  place  affords  promise  of.  It  is 
natural  they  should  do  so,  considering  that  the  circum- 
stances of  your  birth  seem  connected  with  riches  and 
with  rank.  Go,  then,  seek  that  riches  and  rank.  It  is 
possible  your  mind  may  be  changed  in  the  pursuit,  and 
if  so,  think  no  more  about  Menie  Gray.  But  if  it  should 
be  otherwise,  we  may  meet  again,  and  do  not  beHeve  for 
a  moment  that  there  can  be  a  change  in  Menie  Gray's 
feelings  towards  you.' 

At  this  interview  much  more  was  said  than  it  is  neces- 
sary to  repeat,  much  more  thought  than  was  actually 
said.  Nurse  Jamieson,  in  whose  chamber  it  took  place, 
folded  her  'bairns,'  as  she  called  them,  in  her  arms,  and 
declared  that  Heaven  had  made  them  for  each  other, 
and  that  she  would  not  ask  of  Heaven  to  live  beyond  the 
day  when  she  should  see  them  bridegroom  and  bride. 

At  length  it  became  necessary  that  the  parting  scene 
should  end;  and  Richard  Middlemas,  mounting  a  horse 
which  he  had  hired  for  the  journey,  setoff  for  Edinburgh, 
to  which  metropolis  he  had  already  forwarded  his  heavy 
baggage.  Upon  the  road  the  idea  more  than  once  oc- 
curred to  him  that  even  yet  he  had  better  return  to  Mid- 
dlemas, and  secure  his  happiness  by  uniting  himself  at 
once  to  Menie  Gray  and  to  humble  competence.  But 
from  the  moment  that  he  rejoined  his  friend  Hillary  at 
their  appointed  place  of  rendezvous  he  became  ashamed 
even  to  hint  at  any  change  of  purpose;  and  his  late 
excited  feelings  were  forgotten,  unless  in  so  far  as  they 
confirmed  his  resolution  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  attained 

290 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

a  certain  portion  of  wealth  and  consequence,  he  would 
haste  to  share  them  with  Menie  Gray.  Yet  his  gratitude 
to  her  father  did  not  appear  to  have  slumbered,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  gift  of  a  very  handsome  cornelian 
seal,  set  in  gold,  and  bearing  engraved  upon  it  gules,  a 
lion  rampant  within  a  bordure  or,  which  was  carefully 
despatched  to  Stevenlaw's  Land,  Middlemas,  with  a 
suitable  letter.  Menie  knew  the  handwriting,  and 
watched  her  father's  looks  as  he  read  it,  thinking,  per- 
haps, that  it  had  turned  on  a  different  topic.  Her  father 
pshawed  and  poohed  a  good  deal  when  he  had  finished 
the  billet,  and  examined  the  seal. 

'Dick  Middlemas,'  he  said,  *is  but  a  fool  after  all, 
Menie.  I  am  sure  I  am  not  Uke  to  forget  him,  that  he 
should  send  me  a  token  of  remembrance;  and  if  he  would 
be  so  absurd,  could  he  not  have  sent  me  the  improved 
lithotomical  apparatus?  And  what  have  I,  Gideon  Gray, 
to  do  with  the  arms  of  my  Lord  Gray?  No  —  no,  my 
old  silver  stamp,  with  the  double  G  upon  it,  will  serve 
my  turn.  But  put  the  bonny  die  away,  Menie,  my  dear; 
it  was  kindly  meant,  at  any  rate.' 

The  reader  cannot  doubt  that  the  seal  was  safely  and 
carefully  preserved. 


CHAPTER  VI 


A  lazar-house  it  seemed,  wherein  were  laid 
Numbers  of  all  diseased. 

Milton. 


After  the  captain  had  finished  his  business,  amongst 
which  he  did  not  forget  to  have  his  recruit  regularly  at- 
tested as  a  candidate  for  glory  in  the  service  of  the  Hon- 
ourable East  India  Company ,  the  friends  left  Edinburgh. 
From  thence  they  got  a  passage  by  sea  to  Newcastle, 
where  Hillary  had  also  some  regimental  affairs  to  trans- 
act before  he  joined  his  regiment.  At  Newcastle  the 
captain  had  the  good  luck  to  find  a  small  brig,  com- 
manded by  an  old  acquaintance  and  schoolfellow,  which 
was  just  about  to  sail  for  the  Isle  of  Wight.  *I  have 
arranged  for  our  passage  with  him,'  he  said  to  Middle- 
mas;  'for  when  you  are  at  the  depot  you  can  learn  a  little 
of  your  duty,  which  cannot  be  so  well  taught  on  board  of 
ship,  and  then  I  will  find  it  easier  to  have  you  promoted.' 

'Do  you  mean,'  said  Richard,  'that  I  am  to  stay  at 
the  Isle  of  Wight  all  the  time  that  you  are  jigging  it 
away  in  London? ' 

'Ay,  indeed  do  I,'  said  his  comrade,  'and  it's  best  for 
you  too ;  whatever  business  you  have  in  London,  I  can  do 
it  for  you  as  well  or  something  better  than  yourself.' 

'But  I  choose  to  transact  my  own  business  myself. 
Captain  Hillary,'  said  Richard. 

'  Then  you  ought  to  have  remained  your  own  master, 
Mr.  Cadet  Middlemas.  At  present  you  are  an  enlisted 

292 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

recruit  of  the  Honourable  East  India  Company;  I  am 
your  officer,  and  should  you  hesitate  to  follow  me  aboard, 
why,  you  foolish  fellow,  I  could  have  you  sent  on  board 
in  handcuffs.' 

This  was  jestingly  spoken;  but  yet  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  tone  which  hurt  Middlemas's  pride  and 
alarmed  his  fears.  He  had  observed  of  late  that  his  friend, 
especially  when  in  company  of  others,  talked  to  him  with 
an  air  of  command  or  superiority,  difficult  to  be  endured, 
and  yet  so  closely  allied  to  the  freedom  often  exercised 
betwixt  two  intimates,  that  he  could  not  find  any  proper 
mode  of  rebuffing  or  resenting  it.  Such  manifestations  of 
authority  were  usually  followed  by  an  instant  renewal  of 
their  intimacy;  but  in  the  present  case  that  did  not  so 
speedily  ensue. 

Middlemas,  indeed,  consented  to  go  with  his  compan- 
ion, to  the  Isle  of  Wight,  perhaps  because  if  he  should 
quarrel  with  him  the  whole  plan  of  his  Indian  voyage, 
and  all  the  hopes  built  upon  it,  must  fall  to  the  ground. 
But  he  altered  his  purpose  of  entrusting  his  comrade 
with  his  little  fortune,  to  lay  out  as  his  occasions  might 
require,  and  resolved  himself  to  overlook  the  expendi- 
ture of  his  money,  which,  in  the  form  of  Bank  of  England 
notes,  was  safely  deposited  in  his  travelling-trunk.  Cap- 
tain Hillary,  finding  that  some  hint  he  had  thrown  out 
on  this  subject  was  disregarded,  appeared  to  think  no 
more  about  it. 

The  voyage  was  performed  with  safety  and  celerity; 
and  having  coasted  the  shores  of  that  beautiful  island, 
which  he  who  once  sees  never  forgets,  through  whatever 
part  of  the  world  his  future  path  may  lead  him,  the  ves- 
sel was  soon  anchored  off  the  little  town  of  Ryde;  and, 

293 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

as  the  waves  were  uncommonly  still,  Richard  felt  the 
sickness  diminish  which,  for  a  considerable  part  of  the 
passage,  had  occupied  his  attention  more  than  anything 
else. 

The  master  of  the  brig,  in  honour  to  his  passengers  and 
affection  to  his  old  schoolfellow,  had  formed  an  awning 
upon  deck,  and  proposed  to  have  the  pleasure  of  giving 
them  a  little  treat  before  they  left  his  vessel.  Lobscouse, 
sea-pie,  and  other  delicacies  of  a  naval  description  had 
been  provided  in  a  quantity  far  disproportionate  to  the 
number  of  the  guests.  But  the  punch  which  succeeded 
was  of  excellent  quality,  and  portentously  strong.  Cap- 
tain Hillary  pushed  it  round,  and  insisted  upon  his  com- 
panion taking  his  full  share  in  the  merry  bout,  the  rather 
that,  as  he  facetiously  said,  there  had  been  some  dryness 
between  them,  which  good  liquor  would  be  sovereign 
in  removing.  He  renewed,  with  additional  splendours, 
the  various  panoramic  scenes  of  India  and  Indian  ad- 
ventures which  had  first  excited  the  ambition  of  Mid- 
dlemas,  and  assured  him  that,  even  if  he  should  not  be 
able  to  get  him  a  commission  instantly,  yet  a  short  delay 
would  only  give  him  time  to  become  better  acquainted 
with  his  military  duties;  and  Middlemas  was  too  much 
elevated  by  the  liquor  he  had  drank  to  see  any  difficulty 
which  could  oppose  itself  to  his  fortunes.  Whether  those 
who  shared  in  the  compotation  were  more  seasoned 
topers,  whether  Middlemas  drank  more  than  they,  or 
whether,  as  he  himself  afterwards  suspected,  his  cup  had 
been  drugged,  like  those  of  King  Duncan's  body-guard, 
it  is  certain  that  on  this  occasion  he  passed,  with  unusual 
rapidity,  through  all  the  different  phases  of  the  respect- 
able state  of  drunkenness  —  laughed,  sung,  whooped, 

294 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

and  hallooed,  was  maudlin  in  his  fondness  and  frantic 
in  his  wrath,  and  at  length  fell  into  a  fast  and  imperturb- 
able sleep. 

The  effect  of  the  liquor  displayed  itself,  as  usual,  in  a 
hundred  wild  dreams  of  parched  deserts,  and  of  serpents 
whose  bite  inflicted  the  most  intolerable  thirst,  of  the 
suffering  of  the  Indian  on  the  death-stake,  and  the  tor- 
ments of  the  infernal  regions  themselves,  when  at  length 
he  awakened,  and  it  appeared  that  the  latter  vision  was 
in  fact  realised.  The  sounds  which  had  at  first  influenced 
his  dreams,  and  at  length  broken  his  slumbers,  were  of 
the  most  horrible  as  well  as  the  most  melancholy  descrip- 
tion. They  came  from  the  ranges  of  pallet-beds  which 
were  closely  packed  together  in  a  species  of  military  hos- 
pital, where  a  burning  fever  was  the  prevalent  complaint. 
Many  of  the  patients  were  under  the  influence  of  a  high 
delirium,  during  which  they  shouted,  shrieked,  laughed, 
blasphemed,  and  uttered  the  most  horrible  imprecations. 
Others,  sensible  of  their  condition,  bewailed  it  with  low 
groans  and  some  attempts  at  devotion,  which  showed 
their  ignorance  of  the  principles,  and  even  the  forms,  of 
religion.  Those  who  were  convalescent  talked  ribaldry 
in  a  loud  tone,  or  whispered  to  each  other  in  cant  lan- 
guage, upon  schemes  which,  as  far  as  a  passing  phrase 
could  be  understood  by  a  novice,  had  relation  to  violent 
and  criminal  exploits. 

Richard  Middlemas's  astonishment  was  equal  to  his 
horror.  He  had  but  one  advantage  over  the  poor  wretches 
with  whom  he  was  classed,  and  it  was  in  enjoying  the 
luxury  of  a  pallet  to  himself,  most  of  the  others  being 
occupied  by  two  unhappy  beings.  He  saw  no  one  who 
appeared  to  attend  to  the  wants,  or  to  heed  the  com- 

29s 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

plaints,  of  the  wretches  around  him,  or  to  whom  he 
could  offer  any  appeal  against  his  present  situation.  He 
looked  for  his  clothes,  that  he  might  arise  and  extricate 
himself  from  this  den  of  horrors;  but  his  clothes  were 
nowhere  to  be  seen,  nor  did  he  see  his  portmanteau  or 
sea-chest.  It  was  much  to  be  apprehended  he  would 
never  see  them  more. 

Then,  but  too  late,  he  remembered  the  insinuations 
which  had  passed  current  respecting  his  friend  the  cap- 
tain, who  was  supposed  to  have  been  discharged  by  Mr. 
Lawford  on  account  of  some  breach  of  trust  in  the  town- 
clerk's  service.  But  that  he  should  have  trepanned  the 
friend  who  had  reposed  his  whole  confidence  in  him,  that 
he  should  have  plundered  him  of  his  fortune,  and  placed 
him  in  this  house  of  pestilence,  with  the  hope  that  death 
might  stifle  his  tongue,  were  iniquities  not  to  have  been 
anticipated,  even  if  the  worst  of  these  reports  were  true. 

But  Middlemas  resolved  not  to  be  awanting  to  him- 
self. This  place  must  be  visited  by  some  officer,  military 
or  medical,  to  whom  he  would  make  an  appeal,  and  alarm 
his  fears  at  least,  if  he  could  not  awaken  his  conscience. 
While  he  revolved  these  distracting  thoughts,  tormented 
at  the  same  time  by  a  burning  thirst  which  he  had  no 
means  of  satisfying,  he  endeavoured  to  discover  if, 
among  those  stretched  upon  the  pallets  nearest  him,  he 
could  not  discern  some  one  likely  to  enter  into  conversa- 
tion with  him,  and  give  him  some  information  about  the 
nature  and  customs  of  this  horrid  place.  But  the  bed 
nearest  him  was  occupied  by  two  fellows  who,  although, 
to  judge  from  their  gaunt  cheeks,  hollow  eyes,  and 
ghastly  looks,  they  were  apparently  recovering  from  the 
disease,  and  just  rescued  from  the  jaws  of  death,  were 

296 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

deeply  engaged  in  endeavouring  to  cheat  each  other  of  a 
few  halfpence  at  a  game  of  cribbage,  mixing  the  terms  of 
the  game  with  oaths  not  loud  but  deep ;  each  turn  of  luck 
being  hailed  by  the  winner  as  well  as  the  loser  with 
execrations,  which  seemed  designed  to  blight  both  body 
and  soul,  now  used  as  the  language  of  triumph,  and  now 
as  reproaches  against  fortune. 

Next  to  the  gamblers  was  a  pallet  occupied  indeed  by 
two  bodies,  but  only  one  of  which  was  living:  the  other 
sufiferer  had  been  recently  reheved  from  his  agony. 

*  He  is  dead  —  he  is  dead ! '  said  the  wretched  survivor. 

'Then  do  you  die  too,  and  be  d — d,'  answered  one  of 
the  players,  'and  then  there  will  be  a  pair  of  you,  as 
Pugg  says.' 

'I  tell  you  he  is  growing  stiff  and  cold,'  said  the  poor 
wretch:  'the  dead  is  no  bedfellow  for  the  living.  For 
God's  sake,  help  to  rid  me  of  the  corpse.' 

'  Ay,  and  get  the  credit  of  having  done  him  —  as  may 
be  the  case  with  yourself,  friend,  for  he  had  some  two  or 
three  hoggs  about  him  — ' 

'You  know  you  took  the  last  rap  from  his  breeches- 
pocket  not  an  hour  ago,'  expostulated  the  poor  convales- 
cent. '  But  help  me  to  take  the  body  out  of  the  bed,  and 
I  will  not  tell  the  jigger-dubber  that  you  have  been  be- 
forehand with  him.' 

'You  tell  the  jigger-dubber!'  answered  the  cribbage- 
player.  '  Such  another  word,  and  I  will  twist  your  head 
round  till  your  eyes  look  at  the  drummer's  handwriting 
on  your  back.  Hold  your  peace,  and  don't  bother  our 
game  with  your  gammon,  or  I  will  make  you  as  mute  as 
your  bedfellow.' 

The  unhappy  wretch,  exhausted,  sunk  back  beside  his 
297 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

hideous  companion,  and  the  usual  jargon  of  the  game, 
interlarded  with  execrations,  went  on  as  before. 

From  this  specimen  of  the  most  obdurate  indifference, 
contrasted  with  the  last  excess  of  misery,  Middlemas 
became  satisfied  how  Httle  could  be  made  of  an  appeal 
to  the  humanity  of  his  fellow-sufiferers.  His  heart  sunk 
within  him,  and  the  thoughts  of  the  happy  and  peaceful 
home  which  he  might  have  called  his  own  arose  before  his 
overheated  fancy  with  a  vividness  of  perception  that 
bordered  upon  insanity.  He  saw  before  him  the  rivulet 
which  wanders  through  the  burgh  muir  of  Middlemas, 
where  he  had  so  often  set  little  mills  for  the  amusement 
of  Menie  while  she  was  a  child.  One  draught  of  it  would 
have  been  worth  all  the  diamonds  of  the  East,  which  of 
late  he  had  worshipped  with  such  devotion;  but  that 
draught  was  denied  to  him  as  to  Tantalus. 

Rallying  his  senses  from  this  passing  illusion,  and 
knowing  enough  of  the  practice  of  the  medical  art  to 
be  aware  of  the  necessity  of  preventing  his  ideas  from 
wandering,  if  possible,  he  endeavoured  to  recollect  that 
he  was  a  surgeon,  and,  after  all,  should  not  have  the  ex- 
treme fear  for  the  interior  of  a  military  hospital  which 
its  horrors  might  inspire  into  strangers  to  the  profession. 
But,  though  he  strove  by  such  recollections  to  rally  his 
spirits,  he  was  not  the  less  aware  of  the  difference  betwixt 
the  condition  of  a  surgeon  who  might  have  attended  such 
a  place  in  the  course  of  his  duty  and  a  poor  inhabitant 
who  was  at  once  a  patient  and  a  prisoner. 

A  footstep  was  now  heard  in  the  apartment,  which 
seemed  to  silence  all  the  varied  sounds  of  woe  that  filled 
it.  The  cribbage-party  hid  their  cards  and  ceased  their 
oaths;  other  wretches,  whose  complaints  had  arisen  to 

298 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

frenzy,  left  off  their  wild  exclamations  and  entreaties  for 
assistance.  Agony  softened  her  shriek,  Insanity  hushed 
its  senseless  clamours,  and  even  Death  seemed  desirous 
to  stifle  his  parting  groan  in  the  presence  of  Captain 
Seelencooper.  This  ofhcial  was  the  superintendent,  or, 
as  the  miserable  inhabitants  termed  him,  the  governor, 
of  the  hospital.  He  had  all  the  air  of  having  been  origi- 
nally a  turnkey  in  some  ill-regulated  jail  —  a  stout,  short, 
bandy-legged  man,  with  one  eye,  and  a  double  portion  of 
ferocity  in  that  which  remained.  He  wore  an  old-fash- 
ioned tarnished  uniform,  which  did  not  seem  to  have 
been  made  for  him ;  and  the  voice  in  which  this  minister 
of  humanity  addressed  the  sick  was  that  of  a  boatswain 
shouting  in  the  midst  of  a  storm.  He  had  pistols  and  a 
cutlass  in  his  belt;  for  his  mode  of  administration  being 
such  as  provoked  even  hospital  patients  to  revolt,  his  hfe 
had  been  more  than  once  in  danger  amongst  them.  He 
was  followed  by  two  assistants,  who  carried  handcuffs 
and  strait-jackets. 

As  Seelencooper  made  his  rounds,  complaint  and 
pain  were  hushed,  and  the  flourish  of  the  bamboo  which 
he  bore  in  his  hand  seemed  powerful  as  the  wand  of  a 
magician  to  silence  all  complaint  and  remonstrance. 

'  I  tell  you  the  meat  is  as  sweet  as  a  nosegay ;  and  for 
the  bread,  it's  good  enough,  and  too  good,  for  a  set  of 
lubbers  that  lie  shamming  Abraham,  and  consuming  the 
Right  Honourable  Company's  victuals.  I  don't  speak  to 
them  that  are  really  sick,  for  God  knows  I  am  always 
for  humanity.' 

'If  that  be  the  case,  sir,'  said  Richard  Middlcmas, 
whose  lair  the  captain  had  approached,  while  he  was 
thus  answering  the  low  and  humble  complaints  of  those 

299 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

by  whose  bedside  he  passed  —  '  if  that  be  the  case,  sir,  I 
hope  your  humanity  will  make  you  attend  to  what  I 
say.' 

'And  who  the  devil  are  you?'  said  the  governor,  turn- 
ing on  him  his  single  eye  of  fire,  while  a  sneer  gathered 
on  his  harsh  features,  which  were  so  well  qualified  to 
express  it. 

'My  name  is  Middlemas;  I  come  from  Scotland,  and 
have  been  sent  here  by  some  strange  mistake.  I  am 
neither  a  private  soldier  nor  am  I  indisposed,  more  than 
by  the  heat  of  this  cursed  place.' 

'Why  then,  friend,  all  I  have  to  ask  you  is,  whether 
you  are  an  attested  recruit  or  not? ' 

*I  was  attested  at  Edinburgh,'  said  Middlemas, 
'but—' 

'  But  what  the  devil  would  you  have,  then?  You  are 
enlisted.  The  captain  and  the  doctor  sent  you  here; 
surely  they  know  best  whether  you  are  private  or  of- 
ficer, sick  or  well.' 

'But  I  was  promised,'  said  Middlemas  —  'promised 
by  Tom  Hillary— ' 

'  Promised,  were  you?  Why,  there  is  not  a  man  here 
that  has  not  been  promised  something  by  somebody  or 
another,  or  perhaps  has  promised  something  to  himself. 
This  is  the  land  of  promise,  my  smart  fellow,  but  you 
know  it  is  India  that  must  be  the  land  of  performance. 
So  good  morning  to  you.  The  doctor  will  come  his 
rounds  presently,  and  put  you  all  to  rights.' 

'Stay  but  one  moment  —  one  moment  only:  I  have 
been  robbed.' 

'Robbed!  look  you  there  now,'  said  the  governor, 
'everybody  that  comes  here  has  been  robbed.   Egad,  I 

300 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

am  the  luckiest  fellow  in  Europe:  other  people  in  my 
line  have  only  thieves  and  blackguards  upon  their  hands; 
but  none  come  to  my  ken  but  honest,  decent,  unfortu- 
nate gentlemen  that  have  been  robbed ! ' 

*Take  care  how  you  treat  this  so  lightly,  sir,'  said 
Middlemas;  *  I  have  been  robbed  of  a  thousand  pounds.' 

Here  Governor  Seelencooper's  gravity  was  totally 
overcome,  and  his  laugh  was  echoed  by  several  of  the 
patients,  either  because  they  wished  to  curry  favour  with 
the  superintendent  or  from  the  feeling  which  influences 
evil  spirits  to  rejoice  in  the  tortures  of  those  who  are  sent 
to  share  their  agony. 

*A  thousand  pounds!'  exclaimed  Captain  Seelencoo- 
per,  as  he  recovered  his  breath.  'Come,  that's  a  good 
one  —  I  like  a  fellow  that  does  not  make  two  bites  of  a 
cherry;  why,  there  is  not  a  cull  in  the  ken  that  pretends 
to  have  lost  more  than  a  few  hoggs,  and  here  is  a  servant 
to  the  Honourable  Company  that  has  been  robbed  of  a 
thousand  pounds!  Well  done,  Mr.  Tom  of  Ten  Thou- 
sand, you  're  a  credit  to  the  house,  and  to  the  service,  and 
so  good  morning  to  you.' 

He  passed  on,  and  Richard,  starting  up  in  a  storm  of 
anger  and  despair,  found,  as  he  would  have  called  after 
him,  that  his  voice,  betwixt  thirst  and  agitation,  refused 
its  office.  'Water  —  water!'  he  said,  laying  hold,  at  the 
same  time,  of  one  of  the  assistants  who  followed  Seelen- 
cooper  by  the  sleeve.  The  fellow  looked  carelessly  round ; 
there  was  a  jug  stood  by  the  side  of  the  cribbage-players, 
which  he  reached  to  Middlemas,  bidding  him,  'Drink 
and  be  d — d.' 

The  man's  back  was  no  sooner  turned  than  the 
gamester  threw  himself  from  his  own  bed  into  that  of 

301 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Middlemas,  and  grasping  firm  hold  of  the  arm  of 
Richard,  ere  he  could  carry  the  vessel  to  his  head,  swore 
he  should  not  have  his  booze.  It  may  be  readily  con- 
jectured that  the  pitcher  thus  anxiously  and  desperately 
reclaimed  contained  something  better  than  the  pure 
element.  In  fact,  a  large  proportion  of  it  was  gin.  The 
jug  was  broken  in  the  struggle  and  the  Hquor  spilt. 
Middlemas  dealt  a  blow  to  the  assailant,  which  was 
amply  and  heartily  repaid,  and  a  combat  would  have 
ensued,  but  for  the  interference  of  the  superintendent 
and  his  assistants,  who,  with  a  dexterity  that  showed 
them  well  acquainted  with  such  emergencies,  clapped  a 
strait- waistcoat  upon  each  of  the  antagonists.  Richard's 
efforts  at  remonstrance  only  procured  him  a  blow  from 
Captain  Seelencooper's  rattan,  and  a  tender  admonition 
to  hold  his  tongue  if  he  valued  a  whole  skin. 

Irritated  at  once  by  sufferings  of  the  mind  and  of  the 
body,  tormented  by  raging  thirst,  and  by  the  sense  of 
his  own  dreadful  situation,  the  mind  of  Richard  Middle- 
mas seemed  to  be  on  the  point  of  becoming  unsettled. 
He  felt  an  insane  desire  to  imitate  and  reply  to  the 
groans,  oaths,  and  ribaldry  which,  as  soon  as  the  super- 
intendent quitted  the  hospital,  echoed  around  him.  He 
longed,  though  he  struggled  against  the  impulse,  to  vie 
in  curses  with  the  reprobate,  and  in  screams  with  the 
maniac.  But  his  tongue  clove  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth, 
his  mouth  itself  seemed  choked  with  ashes;  there  came 
upon  him  a  dimness  of  sight,  a  rushing  sound  in  his  ears, 
and  the  powers  of  life  were  for  a  time  suspended. 


CHAPTER  VII 


A  wise  physician,  skill'd  our  wounds  to  heal, 
Is  more  than  armies  to  the  common  weal. 


Pope's  Homer. 

As  Middlemas  returned  to  his  senses,  he  was  sensible 
that  his  blood  felt  more  cool,  that  the  feverish  throb  of 
his  pulsation  was  diminished,  that  the  ligatures  on  his 
person  were  removed,  and  his  lungs  performed  their 
functions  more  freely.  One  assistant  was  binding  up  a 
vein,  from  which  a  considerable  quantity  of  blood  had 
been  taken;  another,  who  had  just  washed  the  face  of 
the  patient,  was  holding  aromatic  vinegar  to  his  nostrils. 
As  he  began  to  open  his  eyes,  the  person  who  had  just 
completed  the  bandage  said  in  Latin,  but  in  a  very  low 
tone,  and  without  raising  his  head,  'Annon  sis  Ricardus 
illc  Middlemas,  ex  civitate  Middlemassiense?  Responde 
in  lingua  Latina.' 

'Sum  ille  miserrimus,'  replied  Richard,  again  shutting 
his  eyes;  for,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  voice  of  his 
comrade  Adam  Hartley,  though  his  presence  might  be 
of  so  much  consequence  in  this  emergency,  conveyed  a 
pang  to  his  wounded  pride.  He  was  conscious  of  un- 
kindly, if  not  hostile,  feehngs  towards  his  old  companion; 
he  remembered  the  tone  of  superiority  which  he  used 
to  assume  over  him,  and  thus  to  lie  stretched  at  his  feet, 
and  in  a  manner  at  his  mercy,  aggravated  his  distress 
by  the  feelings  of  the  dying  chieftain,  'Earl  Percy  sees 
my   fall.'    This  was,  however,  too   unreasonable   an 

303 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

emotion  to  subsist  above  a  minute.    In  the  next,  he 

availed  himself  of  the  Latin  language,  with  which  both 
were  familiar,  for  in  that  time  the  medical  studies  at  the 
celebrated  University  of  Edinburgh  were,  in  a  great 
measure,  conducted  in  Latin,  to  tell  in  a  few  words  his 
own  folly,  and  the  villainy  of  Hillary. 

*I  must  be  gone  instantly,'  said  Hartley.  'Take 
courage;  I  trust  to  be  able  to  assist  you.  In  the  mean- 
time, take  food  and  physic  from  none  but  my  servant, 
who  you  see  holds  the  sponge  in  his  hand.  You  are  in  a 
place  where  a  man's  life  has  been  taken  for  the  sake  of 
his  gold  sleeve-buttons.' 

'Stay  yet  a  moment,'  said  Middlemas.  'Let  me  re- 
move this  temptation  from  my  dangerous  neighbours.* 

He  drew  a  small  packet  from  his  under  waistcoat,  and 
put  it  into  Hartley's  hands. 

'If  I  die,'  he  said,  'be  my  heir.  You  deserve  her 
better  than  L' 

All  answer  was  prevented  by  the  hoarse  voice  of 
Seelencooper. 

'Well,  doctor,  will  you  carry  through  your  patient?' 

'Symptoms  are  dubious  yet,'  said  the  doctor.  'That 
was  an  alarming  swoon.  You  must  have  him  carried 
into  the  private  ward,  and  my  young  man  shall  attend 
him.' 

'Why,  if  you  command  it,  doctor,  needs  must;  but  I 
can  tell  you  there  is  a  man  we  both  know  that  has  a 
thousand  reasons  at  least  for  keeping  him  in  the  pubHc 
ward.' 

'  I  know  nothing  of  your  thousand  reasons,'  said  Hart- 
ley;  '  I  can  only  tell  you  that  this  young  fellow  is  as  well- 
limbed  and  likely  a  lad  as  the  Company  have  among 

304 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

their  recruits.  It  is  my  business  to  save  him  for  their 
service,  and  if  he  dies  by  your  neglecting  what  I  direct, 
depend  upon  it  I  will  not  allow  the  blame  to  lie  at  my 
door.  I  will  tell  the  General  the  charge  I  have  given 
you.' 

*  The  General ! '  said  Seelencooper,  much  embarrassed. 
'Tell  the  General?  Ay,  about  his  health.  But  you  will 
not  say  anything  about  what  he  may  have  said  in  his 
light-headed  fits?  My  eyes !  if  you  listen  to  what  feverish 
patients  say  when  the  tantivy  is  in  their  brain,  your 
back  will  soon  break  with  tale-bearing,  for  I  will  warrant 
you  plenty  of  them  to  carry.' 

'Captain  Seelencooper,'  said  the  doctor,  *I  do  not 
meddle  with  your  department  in  the  hospital.  My  ad- 
vice to  you  is,  not  to  trouble  yourself  with  mine.  I 
suppose,  as  I  have  a  commission  in  the  service,  and  have 
besides  a  regular  diploma  as  a  physician,  I  know  when 
my  patient  is  Hght-headed  or  otherwise.  So  do  you  let 
the  man  be  carefully  looked  after,  at  your  peril.' 

Thus  saying,  he  left  the  hospital,  but  not  till,  under 
pretext  of  again  consulting  the  pulse,  he  pressed  the 
patient's  hand,  as  if  to  assure  him  once  more  of  his 
exertions  for  his  liberation. 

*My  eyes!'  muttered  Seelencooper,  'this  cockerel 
crows  gallant,  to  come  from  a  Scotch  roost;  but  I  would 
know  well  enough  how  to  fetch  the  youngster  off  the 
perch,  if  it  were  not  for  the  cure  he  has  done  on  the 
General's  pickaninnies.' 

Enough  of  this  fell  on  Richard's  ear  to  suggest  hopes 
of  deliverance,  which  were  increased  when  he  was 
shortly  afterwards  removed  to  a  separate  ward,  a  place 
much  more  decent  in  appearance,  and  inhabited  only 

44  305 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

by  two  patients,  who  seemed  petty  officers.  Although 
sensible  that  he  had  no  illness  save  that  weakness  which 
succeeds  violent  agitation,  he  deemed  it  wisest  to  suffer 
himself  still  to  be  treated  as  a  patient,  in  consideration 
that  he  should  thus  remain  under  his  comrade's  super- 
intendence. Yet,  while  preparing  to  avail  himself  of 
Hartley's  good  offices,  the  prevailing  reflection  of  his 
secret  bosom  was  the  ungrateful  sentiment,  'Had 
Heaven  no  other  means  of  saving  me  than  by  the  hands 
of  him  I  Uke  least  on  the  face  of  the  earth?' 

Meanwhile,  ignorant  of  the  ungrateful  sentiments  of 
his  comrade,  and  indeed  wholly  indifferent  how  he  felt 
towards  him,  Hartley  proceeded  in  doing  him  such 
service  as  was  in  his  power,  without  any  other  object 
than  the  discharge  of  his  own  duty  as  a  man  and  as 
a  Christian.  The  manner  in  which  he  became  qualified 
to  render  his  comrade  assistance  requires  some  short 
explanation. 

Our  story  took  place  at  a  period  when  the  Directors 
of  the  East  India  Company,  with  that  hardy  and  per- 
severing policy  which  has  raised  to  such  a  height  the 
British  Empire  in  the  East,  had  determined  to  send  a 
large  reinforcement  of  European  troops  to  the  support 
of  their  power  in  India,  then  threatened  by  the  king- 
dom of  Mysore,  of  which  the  celebrated  Hyder  AH  had 
usurped  the  government,  after  dethroning  his  master. 
Considerable  difficulty  was  found  in  obtaining  recruits 
for  that  service.  Those  who  might  have  been  otherwise 
disposed  to  be  soldiers  were  afraid  of  the  climate,  and  of 
the  species  of  banishment  which  the  engagement  im- 
plied ;  and  doubted  also  how  far  the  engagements  of  the 
Company  might  be  faithfully  observed  towards  them, 

306 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

when  they  were  removed  from  the  protection  of  the 
British  laws.  For  these  and  other  reasons,  the  military 
service  of  the  king  was  preferred,  and  that  of  the  Com- 
pany could  only  procure  the  worst  recruits,  although 
their  zealous  agents  scrupled  not  to  employ  the  worst 
means.  Indeed,  the  practice  of  kidnapping,  or  crimping, 
as  it  is  technically  called,  was  at  that  time  general, 
whether  for  the  colonies  or  even  for  the  king's  troops; 
and  as  the  agents  employed  in  such  transactions  must 
be  of  course  entirely  unscrupulous,  there  was  not  only 
much  villainy  committed  in  the  direct  prosecution  of 
the  trade,  but  it  gave  rise  incidentally  to  remarkable 
cases  of  robbery,  and  even  murder.  Such  atrocities 
were,  of  course,  concealed  from  the  authorities  for  whom 
the  levies  were  made,  and  the  necessity  of  obtaining 
soldiers  made  men  whose  conduct  was  otherwise  unex- 
ceptionable cold  in  looking  closely  into  the  mode  in 
which  their  recruiting  service  was  conducted. 

The  principal  depot  of  the  troops  which  were  by  these 
means  assembled  was  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where,  the 
season  proving  unhealthy,  and  the  men  themselves 
being  many  of  them  of  a  bad  habit  of  body,  a  fever  of  a 
malignant  character  broke  out  amongst  them,  and 
speedily  crowded  with  patients  the  military  hospital, 
of  which  Mr,  Seelencooper,  himself  an  old  and  experi- 
enced crimp  and  kidnapper,  had  obtained  the  superin- 
tendence. Irregularities  began  to  take  place  also  among 
the  soldiers  who  remained  healthy,  and  the  necessity  of 
subjecting  them  to  some  discipline  before  they  sailed 
was  so  evident,  that  several  officers  of  the  Company's 
naval  service  expressed  their  beUef  that  otherwise  there 
would  be  dangerous  mutinies  on  the  passage. 

307 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

To  remedy  the  first  of  these  evils,  the  Court  of 
Directors  sent  down  to  the  island  several  of  their  medi- 
cal servants,  amongst  whom  was  Hartley,  whose  quali- 
fications had  been  amply  certified  by  a  medical  board, 
before  which  he  had  passed  an  examination,  besides  his 
possessing  a  diploma  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh 
as  M.D. 

To  enforce  the  discipline  of  their  soldiers,  the  Court 
committed  full  power  to  one  of  their  own  body.  General 
Witherington.  The  General  was  an  officer  who  had 
distinguished  himself  highly  in  their  service.  He  had 
returned  from  India  five  or  six  years  before,  with  a  large 
fortune,  which  he  had  rendered  much  greater  by  an 
advantageous  marriage  with  a  rich  heiress.  The  General 
and  his  lady  went  little  into  society,  but  seemed  to  live 
entirely  for  their  infant  family,  those  in  number  being 
three,  two  boys  and  a  girl.  Although  he  had  retired 
from  the  service,  he  willingly  undertook  the  temporary 
charge  committed  to  him,  and  taking  a  house  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  the  town  of  Ryde,  he  proceeded 
to  enrol  the  troops  into  separate  bodies,  appoint  officers 
of  capacity  to  each,  and,  by  regular  training  and  disci- 
pline, gradually  to  bring  them  into  something  resem- 
bling good  order.  He  heard  their  complaints  of  ill-usage 
in  the  articles  of  provisions  and  appointments,  and  did 
them  upon  all  occasions  the  strictest  justice,  save  that 
he  was  never  known  to  restore  one  recruit  to  his  freedom 
from  the  service,  however  unfairly  or  even  illegally  his 
attestation  might  have  been  obtained. 

'It  is  none  of  my  business,'  said  General  Withering- 
ton,  'how  you  became  soldiers,  —  soldiers  I  found  you, 
and  soldiers  I  will  leave  you.   But  I  will  take  especial 

308 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

care  that,  as  soldiers  you  shall  have  everything,  to  a 
penny  or  a  pin's  head,  that  you  are  justly  entitled  to.* 
He  went  to  work  without  fear  or  favour,  reported  many 
abuses  to  the  Board  of  Directors,  had  several  officers, 
commissaries,  etc.,  removed  from  the  service,  and  made 
his  name  as  great  a  terror  to  the  peculators  at  home  as  it 
had  been  to  the  enemies  of  Britain  in  Hindostan. 

Captain  Seelencooper  and  his  associates  in  the  hos- 
pital department  heard  and  trembled,  fearing  that  their 
turn  should  come  next;  but  the  General,  who  elsewhere 
examined  all  with  his  own  eyes,  showed  a  reluctance  to 
visit  the  hospital  in  person.  Public  report  industriously 
imputed  this  to  fear  of  infection.  Such  was  certainly 
the  motive;  though  it  was  not  fear  for  his  own  safety 
that  influenced  General  Witherington,  but  he  dreaded 
lest  he  should  carry  the  infection  home  to  the  nursery, 
on  which  he  doated.  The  alarm  of  his  lady  was  yet  more 
unreasonably  sensitive:  she  would  scarcely  suffer  the 
children  to  walk  abroad,  if  the  wind  but  blew  from  the 
quarter  where  the  hospital  was  situated. 

But  Providence  bafHes  the  precautions  of  mortals. 
In  a  walk  across  the  fields,  chosen  as  the  most  sheltered 
and  sequestered,  the  children,  with  their  train  of  Eastern 
and  European  attendants,  met  a  woman  who  carried 
a  child  that  was  recovering  from  the  small-pox.  The 
anxiety  of  the  father,  joined  to  some  religious  scruples 
on  the  mother's  part,  had  postponed  inoculation,  which 
was  then  scarcely  come  into  general  use.  The  infection 
caught  Uke  a  quick-match,  and  ran  like  wildfire  through 
all  those  in  the  family  who  had  not  previously  had  the 
disease.  One  of  the  General's  children,  the  second  boy, 
died,  and  two  of  the  ayahs,  or  black  female  servants, 

309 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

had  the  same  fate.  The  hearts  of  the  father  and  mother 
would  have  been  broken  for  the  child  they  had  lost,  had 
not  their  grief  been  suspended  by  anxiety  for  the  fate 
of  those  who  lived,  and  who  were  confessed  to  be  in 
imminent  danger.  They  were  like  persons  distracted, 
as  the  symptoms  of  the  poor  patients  seemed  gradu- 
ally to  resemble  more  nearly  that  of  the  child  already 
lost. 

While  the  parents  were  in  this  agony  of  apprehension, 
the  General's  principal  servant,  a  native  of  Northum- 
berland like  himself,  informed  him  one  morning  that 
there  was  a  young  man  from  the  same  county  among 
the  hospital  doctors  who  had  pubHcly  blamed  the  mode 
of  treatment  observed  towards  the  patients,  and  spoken 
of  another  which  he  had  seen  practised  with  eminent 
success. 

'  Some  impudent  quack,'  said  the  General,  'who  would 
force  himself  into  business  by  bold  assertions.  Dr. 
Tourniquet  and  Dr.  Lancelot  are  men  of  high  reputa- 
tion.' 

*Do  not  mention  their  reputation,'  said  the  mother, 
with  a  mother's  impatience;  'did  they  not  let  my  sweet 
Reuben  die?  What  avails  the  reputation  of  the  physi- 
cian when  the  patient  perisheth? ' 

'If  his  honour  would  but  see  Dr.  Hartley,'  said 
Winter,  turning  half  towards  the  lady,  and  then  turning 
back  again  to  his  master.  'He  is  a  very  decent  young 
man,  who,  I  am  sure,  never  expected  what  he  said 
to  reach  your  honour's  ears  —  and  he  is  a  native  of 
Northumberland . ' 

'Send  a  servant  with  a  led  horse,'  said  the  General; 
'let  the  young  man  come  hither  instantly.' 

310 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

It  is  well  known  that  the  ancient  mode  of  treating  the 
small-pox  was  to  refuse  to  the  patient  everything  which 
nature  urged  him  to  desire ;  and,  in  particular,  to  confine 
him  to  heated  rooms,  beds  loaded  with  blankets,  and 
spiced  wine,  when  nature  called  for  cold  water  and  fresh 
air.  A  different  mode  of  treatment  had  of  late  been 
adventured  upon  by  some  practitioners,  who  preferred 
reason  to  authority,  and  Gideon  Gray  had  followed  it 
for  several  years  with  extraordinary  success. 

When  General  Witherington  saw  Hartley,  he  was 
startled  at  his  youth ;  but  when  he  heard  him  modestly, 
but  with  confidence,  state  the  difference  of  the  two 
modes  of  treatment,  and  the  rationale  of  his  practice,  he 
listened  with  the  most  serious  attention.  So  did  his 
lady,  her  streaming  eyes  turning  from  Hartley  to  her 
husband,  as  if  to  watch  what  impression  the  arguments 
of  the  former  were  making  upon  the  latter.  General 
Witherington  was  silent  for  a  few  minutes  after  Hartley 
had  finished  his  exposition,  and  seemed  buried  in  pro- 
found reflection.  *To  treat  a  fever,'  he  said,  *in  a  man- 
ner which  tends  to  produce  one  seems  indeed  to  be 
adding  fuel  to  fire.' 

*  It  is  —  it  is,'  said  the  lady.  'Let  us  trust  this  young 
man.  General  Witherington.  We  shall  at  least  give  our 
darlings  the  comforts  of  the  fresh  air  and  cold  water  for 
which  they  are  pining.' 

But  the  General  remained  undecided.  'Your  reason- 
ing,' he  said  to  Hartley,  'seems  plausible;  but  still  it  is 
only  hypothesis.  What  can  you  show  to  support  your 
theory  in  opposition  to  the  general  practice? ' 

'My  own  observation,'  replied  the  young  man.  'Here 
is  a  memorandum-book  of  medical  cases  which  I  have 

3^1 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

witnessed.  It  contains  twenty  cases  of  small-pox,  of 
which  eighteen  were  recoveries.' 

*And  the  two  others?'  said  the  General. 

'Terminated  fatally/  replied  Hartley;  'we  can  as  yet 
but  partially  disarm  this  scourge  of  the  human  race.' 

'Young  man,'  continued  the  General,  'were  I  to  say 
that  a  thousand  gold  mohurs  were  yours  in  case  my 
children  live  under  your  treatment,  what  have  you  to 
peril  in  exchange?' 

'My  reputation,'  answered  Hartley,  firmly. 

'And  you  could  warrant  on  your  reputation  the  re- 
covery of  your  patients? ' 

'  God  forbid  I  should  be  so  presumptuous !  But  I  think 
I  could  warrant  my  using  those  means  which,  with  God's 
blessing,  afford  the  fairest  chance  of  a  favourable  result.' 

'  Enough  —  you  are  modest  and  sensible,  as  well  as 
bold,  and  I  will  trust  you.' 

The  lady,  on  whom  Hartley's  words  and  manner  had 
made  a  great  impression,  and  who  was  eager  to  discon- 
tinue a  mode  of  treatment  which  subjected  the  patients 
to  the  greatest  pain  and  privation,  and  had  already 
proved  unfortunate,  eagerly  acquiesced,  and  Hartley 
was  placed  in  full  authority  in  the  sick-room. 

Windows  were  thrown  open,  fires  reduced  or  discon- 
tinued, loads  of  bed-clothes  removed,  cooHng  drinks 
superseded  mulled  wine  and  spices.  The  sick-nurses 
cried  out  murder.  Doctors  Tourniquet  and  Lancelot 
retired  in  disgust,  menacing  something  like  a  general 
pestilence,  in  vengeance  of  what  they  termed  rebellion 
against  the  neglect  of  the  aphorisms  of  Hippocrates. 
Hartley  proceeded  quietly  and  steadily,  and  the  patients 
got  into  a  fair  road  of  recovery. 

312 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

The  young  Northumbrian  was  neither  conceited  nor 
artful ;  yet,  with  all  his  plainness  of  character,  he  could 
not  but  know  the  influence  which  a  successful  physician 
obtains  over  the  parents  of  the  children  whom  he  has 
saved  from  the  grave,  and  especially  before  the  cure  is 
actually  completed.  He  resolved  to  use  this  influence  in 
behalf  of  his  old  companion,  trusting  that  the  military 
tenacity  of  General  Witherington  would  give  way  on 
consideration  of  the  obligation  so  lately  conferred  upon 
him. 

On  his  way  to  the  General's  house,  which  was  at 
present  his  constant  place  of  residence,  he  examined  the 
packet  which  Middlemas  had  put  into  his  hand.  It 
contained  the  picture  of  Menie  Gray,  plainly  set,  and 
the  ring,  with  brilliants,  which  Doctor  Gray  had  given 
to  Richard  as  his  mother's  last  gift.  The  first  of  these 
tokens  extracted  from  honest  Hartley  a  sigh,  perhaps  a 
tear,  of  sad  remembrance,  *I  fear,'  he  said,  *she  has  not 
chosen  worthily;  but  she  shall  be  happy,  if  I  can  make 
her  so.' 

Arrived  at  the  residence  of  General  Witherington,  our 
doctor  went  first  to  the  sick  apartment,  and  then  carried 
to  their  parents  the  dehghtful  account  that  the  recov- 
ery of  the  children  might  be  considered  as  certain. 
'May  the  God  of  Israel  bless  thee,  young  man!'  said  the 
lady,  trembhng  with  emotion;  'thou  hast  wiped  the 
tear  from  the  eye  of  the  despairing  mother.  And  yet  — 
alas !  alas !  still  it  must  flow  when  I  think  of  my  cherub 
Reuben.  Oh!  Mr.  Hartley,  why  did  we  not  know  you  a 
week  sooner  —  my  darling  had  not  then  died? ' 

'God  gives  and  takes  away,  my  lady,'  answered 
Hartley ; '  and  you  must  remember  that  two  arc  restored 

313 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

to  you  out  of  three.  It  is  far  from  certain  that  the 
treatment  I  have  used  towards  the  convalescents  would 
have  brought  through  their  brother;  for  the  case,  as 
reported  to  me,  was  of  a  very  inveterate  description.' 

'Doctor,'  said  Witherington,  his  voice  testifying  more 
emotion  than  he  usually  or  wilKngly  gave  way  to,  'you 
can  comfort  the  sick  in  spirit  as  well  as  the  sick  in  body. 
But  it  is  time  we  settle  our  wager.  You  betted  your 
reputation,  which  remains  with  you,  increased  by  all  the 
credit  due  to  your  eminent  success,  against  a  thousand 
gold  mohurs,  the  value  of  which  you  will  find  in  that 
pocket-book.' 

'General  Witherington,'  said  Hartley,  'you  are 
wealthy,  and  entitled  to  be  generous;  I  am  poor,  and 
not  entitled  to  decline  whatever  may  be,  even  in  a 
liberal  sense,  a  compensation  for  my  professional 
attendance.  But  there  is  a  bound  to  extravagance, 
both  in  giving  and  accepting;  and  I  must  not  hazard 
the  newly-acquired  reputation  with  which  you  flatter 
me  by  giving  room  to  have  it  said  that  I  fleeced  the 
parents  when  their  feelings  were  all  afloat  with  anxiety 
for  their  children.  Allow  me  to  divide  this  large  sum: 
one  half  I  will  thankfully  retain,  as  a  most  Uberal 
recompense  for  my  labour;  and  if  you  still  think  you 
owe  me  anything,  let  me  have  it  in  the  advantage  of 
your  good  opinion  and  countenance.' 

'  If  I  acquiesce  in  your  proposal,  Dr.  Hartley,'  said  the 
General,  reluctantly  receiving  back  a  part  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  pocket-book,  'it  is  because  I  hope  to  serve 
you  with  my  interest  even  better  than  with  my  purse.' 

'And  indeed,  sir,'  replied  Hartley,  'it  was  upon  your 
interest  that  I  am  just  about  to  make  a  small  claim.' 

314 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

The  General  and  his  lady  spoke  both  in  the  same 
breath,  to  assure  him  his  boon  was  granted  before  asked. 

*  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that/  said  Hartley ;  *  for  it  respects 
a  point  on  which  I  have  heard  say  that  your  Excellency 
is  rather  inflexible  —  the  discharge  of  a  recruit.' 

'My  duty  makes  me  so/  repUed  the  General.  'You 
know  the  sort  of  fellows  that  we  are  obliged  to  content 
ourselves  with :  they  get  drunk,  grow  pot-valiant,  enlist 
over-night,  and  repent  next  morning.  If  I  am  to  dismiss 
all  those  who  pretend  to  have  been  trepanned,  we 
should  have  few  volunteers  remain  behind.  Every  one 
has  some  idle  story  of  the  promises  of  a  swaggering 
Sergeant  Kite.  It  is  impossible  to  attend  to  them. 
But  let  me  hear  yours,  however.' 

'Mine  is  a  very  singular  case.  The  party  has  been 
robbed  of  a  thousand  pounds.' 

*A  recruit  for  this  service  possessing  a  thousand 
pounds !  My  dear  doctor,  depend  upon  it  the  fellow  has 
gulled  you.  Bless  my  heart,  would  a  man  who  had  a 
thousand  pounds  think  of  enlisting  as  a  private  sen- 
tinel?' 

'He  had  no  such  thoughts,'  answered  Hartley.  'He 
was  persuaded  by  the  rogue  whom  he  trusted  that  he 
was  to  have  a  commission.' 

'  Then  his  friend  must  have  been  Tom  Hillary,  or  the 
devil;  for  no  other  could  possess  so  much  cunning  and 
impudence.  He  will  certainly  find  his  way  to  the  gallows 
at  last.  Still  this  story  of  the  thousand  pounds  seems  a 
touch  even  beyond  Tom  Hillary.  What  reason  have  you 
to  think  that  this  fellow  ever  had  such  a  sum  of  money?' 

'I  have  the  best  reason  to  know  it  for  certain,' 
answered  Hartley.    '  He  and  I  served  our  time  together, 

31S 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

under  the  same  excellent  master;  and  when  he  came  of 
age,  not  liking  the  profession  which  he  had  studied,  and 
obtaining  possession  of  his  little  fortune,  he  was  deceived 
by  the  promises  of  this  same  Hillary.' 

'Who  has  had  him  locked  up  in  our  well-ordered  hos- 
pital yonder?'  said  the  General. 

'Even  so,  please  your  Excellency,'  replied  Hartley; 
*  not,  I  think,  to  cure  him  of  any  complaint,  but  to  give 
him  the  opportunity  of  catching  one,  which  would  si- 
lence all  inquiries.' 

*The  matter  shall  be  closely  looked  into.  But  how 
miserably  careless  the  young  man's  friends  must  have 
been  to  let  a  raw  lad  go  into  the  world  with  such  a 
companion  and  guide  as  Tom  Hillary,  and  such  a  sum 
as  a  thousand  pounds  in  his  pocket.  His  parents  had 
better  have  knocked  him  on  the  head.  It  certainly  was 
not  done  like  canny  Northumberland,  as  my  servant 
Winter  calls  it.' 

'The  youth  must  indeed  have  had  strangely  hard- 
hearted or  careless  parents,'  said  Mrs.  Witherington,  in 
accents  of  pity. 

'He  never  knew  them,  madam,'  said  Hartley:  'there 
was  a  mystery  on  the  score  of  his  birth.  A  cold,  unwill- 
ing, and  almost  unknown  hand  dealt  him  out  his  portion 
when  he  came  of  lawful  age,  and  he  was  pushed  into  the 
world  like  a  bark  forced  from  shore  without  rudder, 
compass,  or  pilot.' 

Here  General  Witherington  involuntarily  looked  to 
his  lady,  while,  guided  by  a  similar  impulse,  her  looks 
were  turned  upon  him.  They  exchanged  a  momentary 
glance  of  deep  and  peculiar  meaning,  and  then  the  eyes 
of  both  were  fixed  on  the  ground. 

316 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*Were  you  brought  up  in  Scotland?'  said  the  lady, 
addressing  herself,  in  a  faltering  voice,  to  Hartley.  'And 
what  was  your  master's  name?' 

*  I  served  my  apprenticeship  with  Mr.  Gideon  Gray,  of 
the  town  of  Middlemas,'  said  Hartley. 

'Middlemas!  Gray!'  repeated  the  lady,  and  fainted 
away. 

Hartley  offered  the  succours  of  his  profession;  the 
husband  flew  to  support  her  head,  and  the  instant  that 
Mrs.  Witherington  began  to  recover  he  whispered  to 
her,  in  a  tone  betwixt  entreaty  and  warning,  'Zilia,  be- 
ware —  beware ! ' 

Some  imperfect  sounds  which  she  had  begun  to  frame 
died  away  upon  her  tongue. 

*Let  me  assist  you  to  your  dressing-room,  my  love,' 
said  her  obviously  anxious  husband. 

She  arose  with  the  action  of  an  automaton,  which 
moves  at  the  touch  of  a  spring,  and  half-hanging  upon 
her  husband,  half-dragging  herself  on  by  her  own  efforts, 
had  nearly  reached  the  door  of  the  room,  when  Hartley, 
following,  asked  if  he  could  be  of  any  service. 

*No,  sir,'  said  the  General,  sternly:  'this  is  no  case  for 
a  stranger's  interference;  when  you  are  wanted  I  will 
send  for  you.' 

Hartley  stepped  back  on  receiving  a  rebuff  in  a  tone 
so  different  from  that  which  General  Witherington  had 
used  towards  him  in  their  previous  intercourse,  and 
felt  disposed,  for  the  first  time,  to  give  credit  to  public 
report,  which  assigned  to  that  gentleman,  with  several 
good  qualities,  the  character  of  a  very  proud  and 
haughty  man.  'Hitherto,'  he  thought,  *I  have  seen  him 
tamed  by  sorrow  and  anxiety;  now  the  mind  is  regaining 

317 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

its  natural  tension.  But  he  must  in  decency  interest 
himself  for  this  unhappy  Middlemas.' 

The  General  returned  into  the  apartment  a  minute  or 
two  afterwards,  and  addressed  Hartley  in  his  usual  tone 
of  politeness,  though  apparently  still  under  great  em- 
barrassment, which  he  in  vain  endeavoured  to  conceal. 

'Mrs.  Witherington  is  better,'  he  said,  'and  will  be 
glad  to  see  you  before  dinner.  You  dine  with  us,  I  hope?' 

Hartley  bowed. 

'Mrs.  Witherington  is  rather  subject  to  this  sort  of 
nervous  fits,  and  she  has  been  much  harassed  of  late  by 
grief  and  apprehension.  When  she  recovers  from  them, 
it  is  a  few  minutes  before  she  can  collect  her  ideas,  and 
during  such  intervals  —  to  speak  very  confidentially  to 
you,  my  dear  Dr.  Hartley  —  she  speaks  sometimes 
about  imaginary  events  which  have  never  happened, 
and  sometimes  about  distressing  occurrences  in  an 
early  period  of  life.  I  am  not,  therefore,  willing  that  any 
one  but  myself,  or  her  old  attendant,  Mrs.  Lopez,  should 
be  with  her  on  such  occasions.' 

Hartley  admitted  that  a  certain  degree  of  Hght- 
headedness  was  often  the  consequence  of  nervous  fits. 

The  General  proceeded.  'As  to  this  young  man  — 
this  friend  of  yours  —  this  Richard  Middlemas  —  did 
you  not  call  him  so? ' 

'Not  that  I  recollect,'  answered  Hartley;  'but  your 
Excellency  has  hit  upon  his  name.' 

'That  is  odd  enough.  Certainly  you  said  something 
about  Middlemas? '  replied  General  Witherington. 

*I  mentioned  the  name  of  the  town,'  said  Hartley. 

*Ay,  and  I  caught  it  up  as  the  name  of  the  recruit.  I 
was  indeed  occupied   at  the  moment  by  my  anxiety 

318 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

about  my  wife.  But  this  Middlemas,  since  such  is  his 
name,  is  a  wild  young  fellow,  I  suppose?' 

*I  should  do  him  wrong  to  say  so,  your  Excellency. 
He  may  have  had  his  follies  like  other  young  men;  but 
his  conduct  has,  so  far  as  I  know,  been  respectable;  but, 
considering  we  Uved  in  the  same  house,  we  were  not  very 
intimate.' 

'That  is  bad;  I  should  have  hked  him  —  that  is  —  it 
would  have  been  happy  for  him  to  have  had  a  friend 
like  you.  But  I  suppose  you  studied  too  hard  for  him. 
He  would  be  a  soldier,  ha?  Is  he  good-looking? ' 

'Remarkably  so,'  repHed  Hartley;  'and  has  a  very 
prepossessing  manner.' 

'  Is  his  complexion  dark  or  fair? '  asked  the  General. 

'Rather  uncommonly  dark,'  said  Hartley  —  'darker, 
if  I  may  use  the  freedom,  than  your  Excellency's.' 

'Nay,  then,  he  must  be  a  black  ouzel  indeed!  Does 
he  understand  languages?' 

'Latin  and  French  tolerably  well.' 

'  Of  course  he  cannot  fence  or  dance? ' 

'Pardon  me,  sir,  I  am  no  great  judge;  but  Richard  is 
reckoned  to  do  both  with  uncommon  skill.' 

'  Indeed !  Sum  this  up,  and  it  sounds  well.  Handsome, 
accomplished  in  exercises,  moderately  learned,  perfectly 
well-bred,  not  unreasonably  wild.  All  this  comes  too  high 
for  the  situation  of  a  private  sentinel.  He  must  have  a 
commission,  doctor  —  entirely  for  your  sake.' 

'Your  Excellency  is  generous.' 

'It  shall  be  so;  and  I  will  find  means  to  make  Tom 
Hillary  disgorge  his  plunder,  unless  he  prefers  being 
hanged,  a  fate  he  has  long  deserved.  You  cannot  go 
back  to  the  hospital  to-day.  You  dine  with  us,  and  you 

319 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

know  Mrs.  Witherington's  fears  of  infection;  but  to- 
morrow find  out  your  friend.  Winter  shall  see  him 
equipped  with  everything  needful.  Tom  Hillary  shall 
repay  advances,  you  know;  and  he  must  be  off  with  the 
first  detachment  of  the  recruits,  in  the  ''Middlesex" 
Indiaman,  which  sails  from  the  Downs  on  Monday 
fortnight;  that  is,  if  you  think  him  fit  for  the  voyage,  I 
dare  say  the  poor  fellow  is  sick  of  the  Isle  of  Wight.' 

'Your  Excellency  will  permit  the  young  man  to  pay 
his  respects  to  you  before  his  departure? ' 

*To  what  purpose,  sir?'  said  the  General,  hastily  and 
peremptorily;  but  instantly  added,  'You  are  right;  I 
should  like  to  see  him.  Winter  shall  let  him  know  the 
time,  and  take  horses  to  fetch  him  hither.  But  he  must 
have  been  out  of  the  hospital  for  a  day  or  two;  so  the 
sooner  you  can  set  him  at  Hberty  the  better.  In  the 
meantime,  take  him  to  your  own  lodgings,  doctor;  and 
do  not  let  him  form  any  intimacies  with  the  oflScers,  or 
any  others,  in  this  place,  where  he  may  light  on  another 
Hillary.' 

Had  Hartley  been  as  well  acquainted  as  the  reader 
with  the  circumstances  of  young  Middlemas's  birth,  he 
might  have  drawn  decisive  conclusions  from  the  behav- 
iour of  General  Witherington  while  his  comrade  was  the 
topic  of  conversation.  But  as  Mr.  Gray  and  Middlemas 
himself  were  both  silent  on  the  subject,  he  knew  little  of 
it  but  from  general  report,  which  his  curiosity  had  never 
induced  him  to  scrutinise  minutely.  Nevertheless,  what 
he  did  apprehend  interested  him  so  much,  that  he  re- 
solved upon  trying  a  little  experiment,  in  which  he 
thought  there  could  be  no  great  harm.  He  placed  on 
his  finger  the  remarkable  ring  entrusted  to  his  care 

320 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

by  Richard  Middlemas,  and  endeavoured  to  make  it 
conspicuous  in  approaching  Mrs.  Witherington,  taking 
care,  however,  that  this  occurred  during  her  husband's 
absence.  Her  eyes  had  no  sooner  caught  a  sight  of  the 
gem  than  they  became  riveted  to  it,  and  she  begged  a 
nearer  sight  of  it,  as  strongly  resembling  one  which  she 
had  given  to  a  friend.  Taking  the  ring  from  his  linger, 
and  placing  it  in  her  emaciated  hand,  Hartley  informed 
her  it  was  the  property  of  the  friend  in  whom  he  had  just 
been  endeavouring  to  interest  the  General.  Mrs.  With- 
erington retired  in  great  emotion,  but  next  day  sum- 
moned Hartley  to  a  private  interview,  the  particulars 
of  which,  so  far  as  are  necessary  to  be  known,  shall  be 
afterwards  related. 

On  the  succeeding  day  after  these  important  dis- 
coveries, Middlemas,  to  his  great  delight,  was  rescued 
from  his  seclusion  in  the  hospital,  and  transferred  to  his 
comrade's  lodgings  in  the  town  of  Ryde,  of  which 
Hartley  himself  was  a  rare  inmate,  the  anxiety  of  Mrs. 
Witherington  detaining  him  at  the  General's  house  long 
after  his  medical  attendance  might  have  been  dispensed 
with. 

Within  two  or  three  days  a  commission  arrived  for 
Richard  Middlemas  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  service  of  the 
East  India  Company.  Winter,  by  his  master's  orders, 
put  the  wardrobe  of  the  young  officer  on  a  suitable 
footing;  while  Middlemas,  enchanted  at  finding  himself 
at  once  emancipated  from  his  late  dreadful  difiiculties 
and  placed  under  the  protection  of  a  man  of  such  impor- 
tance as  the  General,  obeyed  impHcitly  the  hints  trans- 
mitted to  him  by  Hartley,  and  enforced  by  Winter,  and 
abstained  from  going  into  public,  or  forming  acquain- 
44  321 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

tances  with  any  one.  Even  Hartley  himself  he  saw 
seldom;  and,  deep  as  were  his  obligations,  he  did  not 
perhaps  greatly  regret  the  absence  of  one  whose  pres- 
ence always  affected  him  with  a  sense  of  humiliation 
and  abasement. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  evening  before  he  was  to  sail  for  the  Downs,  where 
the  'Middlesex'  lay  ready  to  weigh  anchor,  the  new 
lieutenant  was  summoned  by  Winter  to  attend  him  to 
the  General's  residence,  for  the  purpose  of  being  intro- 
duced to  his  patron,  to  thank  him  at  once  and  to  bid  him 
farewell.  On  the  road  the  old  man  took  the  liberty  of 
schooling  his  companion  concerning  the  respect  which 
he  ought  to  pay  to  his  master,  *  who  was,  though  a  kind 
and  generous  man  as  ever  came  from  Northumberland, 
extremely  rigid  in  punctiliously  exacting  the  degree  of 
honour  which  was  his  due.' 

While  they  were  advancing  towards  the  house,  the 
General  and  his  wife  expected  their  arrival  with  breath- 
less anxiety.  They  were  seated  in  a  superb  drawing- 
room,  the  General  behind  a  large  chandelier,  which, 
shaded  opposite  to  his  face,  threw  all  the  light  to  the 
other  side  of  the  table,  so  that  he  could  observe  any 
person  placed  there  without  becoming  the  subject  of 
observation  in  turn.  On  a  heap  of  cushions,  wrapped  in 
a  glittering  drapery  of  gold  and  silver  muslins,  mingled 
with  shawls,  a  luxury  which  was  then  a  novelty  in 
Europe,  sate,  or  rather  reclined,  his  lady,  who,  past  the 
full  meridian  of  beauty,  retained  charms  enough  to 
distinguish  her  as  one  who  had  been  formerly  a  very 
fine  woman,  though  her  mind  seemed  occupied  by  the 
deepest  emotion. 

'Zilia,'  said  her  husband,  'you  are  unable  for  what 

323 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

you  have  undertaken;  take  my  advice!  —  retire;  you 
shall  know  all  and  everything  that  passes  —  but  retire. 
To  what  purpose  should  you  cling  to  the  idle  wish  of 
beholding  for  a  moment  a  being  whom  you  can  never 
again  look  upon?' 

'Alas!'  answered  the  lady,  'and  is  not  your  declara- 
tion that  I  shall  never  see  him  more  a  sufl&cient  rea- 
son that  I  should  wish  to  see  him  now  —  should  wish 
to  imprint  on  my  memory  the  features  and  the  form 
which  I  am  never  again  to  behold  while  we  are  in  the 
body?  Do  not,  my  Richard,  be  more  cruel  than  was 
my  poor  father,  even  when  his  wrath  was  in  its  bitter- 
ness. He  let  me  look  upon  my  infant,  and  its  cherub 
face  dwelt  with  me,  and  was  my  comfort,  among  the 
years  of  unutterable  sorrow  in  which  my  youth  wore 
away.' 

'It  is  enough,  Zilia:  you  have  desired  this  boon:  I  have 
granted  it,  and,  at  whatever  risk,  my  promise  shall  be 
kept.  But  think  how  much  depends  on  this  fatal  secret 
—  your  rank  and  estimation  in  society  —  my  honour 
interested  that  that  estimation  should  remain  uninjured. 
Zilia,  the  moment  that  the  promulgation  of  such  a  secret 
gives  prudes  and  scandalmongers  a  right  to  treat  you 
with  scorn  will  be  fraught  with  unutterable  misery, 
perhaps  with  bloodshed  and  death,  should  a  man  dare 
to  take  up  the  rumour.' 

'You  shall  be  obeyed,  my  husband,'  answered  Zilia, 
*in  all  that  the  frailness  of  nature  will  permit.  But  oh, 
God  of  my  fathers,  of  what  clay  hast  Thou  fashioned  us, 
poor  mortals,  who  dread  so  much  the  shame  which 
follows  sin,  yet  repent  so  little  for  the  sin  itself!'  In  a 
minute  afterwards  steps  were  heard;  the  door  opened, 

324 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Winter  announced  Lieutenant  Middlemas,  and  the  un- 
conscious son  stood  before  his  parents. 

Witherington  started  involuntarily  up,  but  immedi- 
ately constrained  himself  to  assume  the  easy  deportment 
with  which  a  superior  receives  a  dependent,  and  which, 
in  his  own  case,  was  usually  mingled  with  a  certain 
degree  of  hauteur.  The  mother  had  less  command  of 
herself.  She  too  sprung  up,  as  if  with  the  intention  of 
throwing  herself  on  the  neck  of  her  son,  for  whom  she 
had  travailed  and  sorrowed.  But  the  warning  glance  of 
her  husband  arrested  her,  as  if  by  magic,  and  she  re- 
mained standing,  with  her  beautiful  head  and  neck 
somewhat  advanced,  her  hands  clasped  together,  and 
extended  forward  in  the  attitude  of  motion,  but  motion- 
less, nevertheless,  as  a  marble  statue,  to  which  the  sculp- 
tor has  given  all  the  appearance  of  life,  but  cannot  im- 
part its  powers.  So  strange  a  gesture  and  posture  might 
have  excited  the  young  ofl&cer's  surprise;  but  the  lady 
stood  in  the  shade,  and  he  was  so  intent  in  looking  upon 
his  patron  that  he  was  scarce  even  conscious  of  Mrs. 
Witherington's  presence. 

*I  am  happy  in  this  opportunity,'  said  Middlemas, 
observing  that  the  General  did  not  speak,  *  to  return  my 
thanks  to  General  Witherington,  to  whom  they  never 
can  be  sufficiently  paid.' 

The  sound  of  his  voice,  though  uttering  words  so 
indifferent,  seemed  to  dissolve  the  charm  which  kept  his 
mother  motionless.  She  sighed  deeply,  relaxed  the 
rigidity  of  her  posture,  and  sunk  back  on  the  cushions 
from  which  she  had  started  up.  Middlemas  turned  a 
look  towards  her  at  the  sound  of  the  sigh  and  the 
rustling  of  her  drapery. 

325 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  General  hastened  to  speak.  'My  wife,  Mr. 
Middlemas,  has  been  unwell  of  late;  your  friend,  Mr. 
Hartley,  might  mention  it  to  you  —  an  affection  of  the 
nerves.' 

Mr.  Middlemas  was,  of  course,  sorry  and  concerned. 

'We  have  had  distress  in  our  family,  Mr.  Middlemas, 
from  the  ultimate  and  heart-breaking  consequences  of 
which  we  have  escaped  by  the  skill  of  your  friend,  Mr. 
Hartley.  We  will  be  happy  if  it  is  in  our  power  to 
repay  a  part  of  our  obligations  in  services  to  his  friend 
and  protege,  Mr.  Middlemas.' 

*I  am  only  acknowledged  as  his  protege,  then,' 
thought  Richard ;  but  he  said, '  Every  one  must  envy  his 
friend  in  having  had  the  distinguished  good  fortune  to 
be  of  use  to  General  Witherington  and  his  family.' 

'You  have  received  your  commission,  I  presume. 
Have  you  any  particular  wish  or  desire  respecting  your 
destination? ' 

'No,  may  it  please  your  Excellency,'  answered  Mid- 
dlemas. '  I  suppose  Hartley  would  tell  your  Excellency 
my  unhappy  state  —  that  I  am  an  orphan,  deserted  by 
the  parents  who  cast  me  on  the  wide  world,  an  outcast 
about  whom  nobody  knows  or  cares,  except  to  desire 
that  I  should  wander  far  enough,  and  live  obscurely 
enough,  not  to  disgrace  them  by  their  connexion  with 
me.' 

Zilia  wrung  her  hands  as  he  spoke,  and  drew  her 
muslin  veil  closely  around  her  head,  as  if  to  exclude  the 
sounds  which  excited  her  mental  agony. 

'Mr.  Hartley  was  not  particularly  communicative 
about  your  affairs,'  said  the  General,  'nor  do  I  wish  to 
give  you  the  pain  of  entering  into  them.  What  I  desire 

326 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

to  know  is,  if  you  are  pleased  with  your  destination  to 

Madras?' 

'Perfectly,  please  your  Excellency  —  anywhere,  so 
that  there  is  no  chance  of  meeting  the  villain  Hillary/ 

'  Oh !  Hillary's  services  are  too  necessary  in  the  pur 
lieus  of  St.  Giles's,  the  Lowlights  of  Newcastle,  and 
such-like  places,  where  human  carrion  can  be  picked  up, 
to  be  permitted  to  go  to  India.  However,  to  show  you 
the  knave  has  some  grace,  there  are  the  notes  of  which 
you  were  robbed.  You  will  find  them  the  very  same 
paper  which  you  lost,  except  a  small  sum  which  the 
rogue  had  spent,  but  which  a  friend  has  made  up,  in 
compassion  for  your  sufferings.' 

Richard  Middlemas  sunk  on  one  knee,  and  kissed  the 
hand  which  restored  him  to  independence. 

'Pshaw!'  said  the  General,  'you  are  a  silly  young 
man';  but  he  withdrew  not  his  hand  from  his  caresses. 
This  was  one  of  the  occasions  on  which  Dick  Middlemas 
could  be  oratorical. 

'O,  my  more  than  father,'  he  said,  'how  much  greater 
a  debt  do  I  owe  to  you  than  to  the  unnatural  parents 
who  brought  me  into  this  world  by  their  sin,  and 
deserted  me  through  their  cruelty!' 

Zilia,  as  she  heard  these  cutting  words,  flung  back  her 
veil,  raising  it  on  both  hands  till  it  floated  behind  her  like 
a  mist,  and  then  giving  a  faint  groan,  sunk  down  in  a 
swoon.  Pushing  Middlemas  from  him  with  a  hasty 
movement.  General  Witherington  flew  to  his  lady's 
assistance,  and  carried  her  in  his  arms,  as  if  she  had  been 
a  child,  into  the  ante-room,  where  an  old  servant  waited 
with  the  means  of  restoring  suspended  animation,  which 
the  unhappy  husband  too  truly  anticipated  might  be 

327 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

useful.  These  were  hastily  employed,  and  succeeded  in 
calling  the  sufferer  to  life,  but  in  a  state  of  mental  emo- 
tion that  was  terrible. 

Her  mind  was  obviously  impressed  by  the  last  words 
which  her  son  had  uttered.  *  Did  you  hear  him,  Richard? ' 
she  exclaimed,  in  accents  terribly  loud,  considering  the 
exhausted  state  of  her  strength  — '  did  you  hear  the 
words?  It  was  Heaven  speaking  our  condemnation  by 
the  voice  of  our  own  child.  But  do  not  fear,  my  Richard, 
do  not  weep !  I  will  answer  the  thunder  of  Heaven  with 
its  own  music' 

She  flew  to  a  harpsichord  which  stood  in  the  room, 
and,  while  the  servant  and  master  gazed  on  each  other, 
as  if  doubting  whether  her  senses  were  about  to  leave  her 
entirely,  she  wandered  over  the  keys,  producing  a  wil- 
derness of  harmony,  composed  of  passages  recalled  by 
memory,  or  combined  by  her  own  musical  talent,  until  at 
length  her  voice  and  instrument  united  in  one  of  those 
magnificent  hymns  in  which  her  youth  had  praised  her 
Maker,  with  voice  and  harp,  like  the  royal  Hebrew  who 
composed  it.  The  tear  ebbed  insensibly  from  the  eyes 
which  she  turned  upwards;  her  vocal  tones,  combining 
with  those  of  the  instrument,  rose  to  a  pitch  of  brilliancy 
seldom  attained  by  the  most  distinguished  performers, 
and  then  sunk  into  a  dying  cadence,  which  fell,  never 
again  to  rise  —  for  the  songstress  had  died  with  her 
strain. 

The  horror  of  the  distracted  husband  may  be  con- 
ceived, when  all  efforts  to  restore  life  proved  totally  inef- 
fectual. Servants  were  despatched  for  medical  men  — 
Hartley,  and  every  other  who  could  be  found.  The  Gen- 
eral precipitated  himself  into  the  apartment  they  had  so 

328 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

lately  left,  and  in  his  haste  ran  against  Middlemas,  who, 
at  the  sound  of  the  music  from  the  adjoining  apartment, 
had  naturally  approached  nearer  to  the  door,  and,  sur- 
prised and  startled  by  the  sort  of  clamour,  hasty  steps, 
and  confused  voices  which  ensued,  had  remained  stand- 
ing there,  endeavouring  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  so 
much  disorder. 

The  sight  of  the  unfortunate  young  man  wakened  the 
General's  stormy  passions  to  frenzy.  He  seemed  to  rec- 
ognise his  son  only  as  the  cause  of  his  wife's  death.  He 
seized  him  by  the  collar,  and  shook  him  violently  as  he 
dragged  him  into  the  chamber  of  mortahty. 

'  Come  hither,'  he  said, '  thou  for  whom  a  Hfe  of  lowest 
obscurity  was  too  mean  a  fate  —  come  hither,  and  look 
on  the  parents  whom  thou  hast  so  much  envied  —  whom 
thou  hast  so  often  cursed.  Look  at  that  pale  emaciated 
form,  a  figure  of  wax,  rather  than  flesh  and  blood:  that  is 
thy  mother  —  that  is  the  unhappy  Ziha  Mongada,  to 
whom  thy  birth  was  the  source  of  shame  and  misery,  and 
to  whom  thy  ill-omened  presence  has  now  brought  death 
itself.  And  behold  me'  —  he  pushed  the  lad  from  him, 
and  stood  up  erect,  looking  well-nigh  in  gesture  and  fig- 
ure the  apostate  spirit  he  described  —  '  behold  me,'  he 
said  —  *  see  you  not  my  hair  streaming  with  sulphur,  my 
brow  scathed  with  hghtning?  I  am  the  Arch  Fiend  —  I 
am  the  father  whom  you  seek  —  I  am  the  accursed 
Richard  Tresham,  the  seducer  of  Zilia,  and  the  father 
of  her  murderer!' 

Hartley  entered  while  this  horrid  scene  was  passing. 
All  attention  to  the  deceased,  he  instantly  saw,  would  be 
thrown  away;  and  understanding,  partly  from  Winter, 
partly  from  the  tenor  of  the  General's  frantic  discourse, 

329 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  nature  of  the  disclosure  which  had  occurred,  he  has- 
tened to  put  an  end,  if  possible,  to  the  frightful  and  scan- 
dalous scene  which  had  taken  place.  Aware  how  deli- 
cately the  General  felt  on  the  subject  of  reputation,  he 
assailed  him  with  remonstrances  on  such  conduct,  in 
presence  of  so  many  witnesses.  But  the  mind  had  ceased 
to  answer  to  that  once  powerful  key-note. 

'I  care  not  if  the  whole  world  hear  my  sin  and  my 
punishment,'  said  Witherington.  'It  shall  not  be  again 
said  of  me  that  I  fear  shame  more  than  I  repent  sin.  I 
feared  shame  only  for  Ziha,  and  Zilia  is  dead.' 

*  But  her  memory.  General  —  spare  the  memory  of 
your  wife,  in  which  the  character  of  your  children  is 
involved.' 

*I  have  no  children,'  said  the  desperate  and  violent 
man.  '  My  Reuben  is  gone  to  Heaven,  to  prepare  a  lodg- 
ing for  the  angel  who  has  now  escaped  from  earth  in  a 
flood  of  harmony,  which  can  only  be  equalled  where  she 
is  gone.  The  other  two  cherubs  will  not  survive  their 
mother.  I  shall  be,  nay,  I  already  feel  myself,  a  childless 
man.' 

'Yet  I  am  your  son,'  replied  Middlemas,  in  a  tone  sor- 
rowful, but  at  the  same  time  tinged  with  sullen  resent- 
ment —  '  your  son  by  your  wedded  wife.  Pale  as  she  lies 
there,  I  call  upon  you  both  to  acknowledge  my  rights, 
and  all  who  are  present  to  bear  witness  to  them.' 

'Wretch!'  exclaimed  the  maniac  father,  'canst  thou 
think  of  thine  own  sordid  rights  in  the  midst  of  death  and 
frenzy?  My  son!  Thou  art  the  fiend  who  hast  occa- 
sioned my  wretchedness  in  this  world,  and  who  will 
share  my  eternal  misery  in  the  next.  Hence  from  my 
sight,  and  my  curse  go  with  thee!' 

330 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

His  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground,  his  arms  folded  on  his 
breast,  the  haughty  and  dogged  spirit  of  Middlemas  yet 
seemed  to  meditate  reply.  But  Hartley,  Winter,  and 
other  bystanders  interfered,  and  forced  him  from  the 
apartment.  As  they  endeavoured  to  remonstrate  with 
him,  he  twisted  himself  out  of  their  grasp,  ran  to  the 
stables,  and  seizing  the  first  saddled  horse  that  he  found, 
out  of  many  that  had  been  in  haste  got  ready  to  seek  for 
assistance,  he  threw  himself  on  its  back  and  rode  furiously 
off.  Hartley  was  about  to  mount  and  follow  him;  but 
Winter  and  the  other  domestics  threw  themselves  around 
him,  and  implored  him  not  to  desert  their  unfortunate 
master  at  a  time  when  the  influence  which  he  had  ac- 
quired over  him  might  be  the  only  restraint  on  the  vio- 
lence of  his  passions. 

*He  had  a  coup  de  soleil  in  India,'  whispered  Winter, 
*and  is  capable  of  anything  in  his  fits.  These  cowards 
cannot  control  him,  and  I  am  old  and  feeble.' 

Satisfied  that  General  Witherington  was  a  greater 
object  of  compassion  than  Middlemas,  whom  besides  he 
had  no  hope  of  overtaking,  and  who  he  believed  was  safe 
in  his  own  keeping,  however  violent  might  be  his  present 
emotions,  Hartley  returned  where  the  greater  emergency 
demanded  his  immediate  care. 

He  found  the  unfortunate  general  contending  with  the 
domestics,  who  endeavoured  to  prevent  his  making  his 
way  to  the  apartment  where  his  children  slept,  and 
exclaiming  furiously, '  Rejoice,  my  treasures —  rejoice — 
He  has  fled  who  would  proclaim  your  father's  crime  and 
your  mother's  dishonour!  He  has  fled,  never  to  return, 
whose  life  has  been  the  death  of  one  parent  and  the  ruin 
of  another!   Courage,  my  children,  your  father  is  with 

331 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

you  —  he  will  make  his  way  to  you  through  a  hundred 
obstacles ! ' 

The  domestics,  intimidated  and  undecided,  were  giv- 
ing way  to  him,  when  Adam  Hartley  approached,  and, 
placing  himself  before  the  unhappy  man,  fixed  his  eye 
firmly  on  the  General's,  while  he  said  in  a  low  but  stern 
voice  —  'Madman,  would  you  kill  your  children?' 

The  General  seemed  staggered  in  his  resolution,  but 
still  attempted  to  rush  past  him.  But  Hartley,  seizing 
him  by  the  collar  of  his  coat  on  each  side,  *  You  are  my 
prisoner,'  he  said;  'I  command  you  to  foUow  me.' 

*Ha!  prisoner,  and  for  high  treason?  Dog,  thou  hast 
met  thy  death!' 

The  distracted  man  drew  a  poniard  from  his  bosom, 
and  Hartley's  strength  and  resolution  might  not  perhaps 
have  saved  his  life,  had  not  Winter  mastered  the  Gen- 
eral's right  hand,  and  contrived  to  disarm  him. 

*I  am  your  prisoner,  then,'  he  said;  'use  me  civilly  — 
and  let  me  see  my  wife  and  children.' 

'You  shall  see  them  to-morrow,'  said  Hartley;  'foUow 
us  instantly,  and  without  the  least  resistance.' 

General  Witherington  followed  hke  a  child,  with  the 
air  of  one  who  is  suffering  for  a  cause  in  which  he 
glories. 

'I  am  not  ashamed  of  my  principles,'  he  said  —  'I  am 
willing  to  die  for  my  king.' 

Without  exciting  his  frenzy,  by  contradicting  the  fan- 
tastic idea  which  occupied  his  imagination.  Hartley  con- 
tinued to  maintain  over  his  patient  the  ascendency  he 
had  acquired.  He  caused  him  to  be  led  to  his  apartment, 
and  beheld  him  suffer  himself  to  be  put  to  bed.  Adminis- 
tering then  a  strong  composing-draught,  and  causing  a 

332 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

servant  to  sleep  in  the  room,  he  watched  the  unfortunate 
man  till  dawn  of  morning. 

General  Witherington  awoke  in  his  full  senses,  and 
apparently  conscious  of  his  real  situation,  which  he  testi- 
fied by  low  groans,  sobs,  and  tears.  When  Hartley  drew 
near  his  bedside  he  knew  him  perfectly,  and  said,  'Do 
not  fear  me  —  the  fit  is  over;  leave  me  now,  and  see 
after  yonder  unfortunate.  Let  him  leave  Britain  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  go  where  his  fate  calls  him,  and  where  we 
can  never  meet  more.  Winter  knows  my  ways,  and  will 
take  care  of  me.' 

Winter  gave  the  same  advice.  *  I  can  answer,'  he  said, 
'for  my  master's  security  at  present;  but  in  Heaven's 
name,  prevent  his  ever  meeting  again  with  that  obdu- 
rate young  man!' 


CHAPTER  DC 


Well,  then,  the  world  's  mine  oyster, 
Which  I  with  sword  will  open. 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 


When  Adam  Hartley  arrived  at  his  lodgings  in  the  sweet 
little  town  of  Ryde,  his  first  inquiries  were  after  his  com- 
rade. He  had  arrived  last  night  late,  man  and  horse  all 
in  a  foam.  He  made  no  reply  to  any  questions  about 
supper  or  the  hke,  but,  snatching  a  candle,  ran  upstairs 
into  his  apartment,  and  shut  and  double-locked  the 
door.  The  servants  only  supposed  that,  being  something 
intoxicated,  he  had  ridden  hard,  and  was  unwilling  to 
expose  himself. 

Hartley  went  to  the  door  of  his  chamber,  not  without 
some  apprehensions;  and  after  knocking  and  calling  more 
than  once,  received  at  length  the  welcome  return,  '  Who 
is  there?' 

On  Hartley  announcing  himself,  the  door  opened,  and 
Middlemas  appeared,  well  dressed,  and  with  his  hair 
arranged  and  powdered;  although,  from  the  appearance 
of  the  bed,  it  had  not  been  slept  in  on  the  preceding 
night,  and  Richard's  countenance,  haggard  and  ghastly, 
seemed  to  bear  witness  to  the  same  fact.  It  was,  how- 
ever, with  an  affectation  of  indifference  that  he  spoke. 

'I  congratulate  you  on  your  improvement  in 
worldly  knowledge,  Adam.  It  is  just  the  time  to  desert 
the  poor  heir,  and  stick  by  him  that  is  in  immediate  pos- 
session of  the  wealth.' 

334 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

'  I  staid  last  night  at  General  Witherington's/  answered 
Hartley,  '  because  he  is  extremely  ill.' 

'Tell  him  to  repent  of  his  sins,  then,'  said  Richard. 
*  Old  Gray  used  to  say,  a  doctor  had  as  good  a  title  to 
give  ghostly  advice  as  a  parson.  Do  you  remember  Dr. 
Dulberry,  the  minister,  calling  him  an  interloper  ?  Ha ! 
ha!  ha!' 

*  I  am  surprised  at  this  style  of  language  from  one  in 
your  circumstances.' 

'Why,  ay,'  said  Middlemas,  with  a  bitter  smile,  'it 
would  be  difficult  to  most  men  to  keep  up  their  spirits, 
after  gaining  and  losing  father,  mother,  and  a  good 
inheritance,  all  in  the  same  day.  But  I  had  always  a 
turn  for  philosophy.' 

'I  really  do  not  understand  you,  Mr.  Middlemas.' 

'Why,  I  found  my  parents  yesterday,  did  I  not?' 
answered  the  young  man.  'My  mother,  as  you  know, 
had  waited  but  that  moment  to  die,  and  my  father  to 
become  distracted;  and  I  conclude  both  were  contrived 
purposely  to  cheat  me  of  my  inheritance,  as  he  has  taken 
up  such  a  prejudice  against  me.' 

'  Inheritance ! '  repeated  Hartley,  bewildered  by  Rich- 
ard's calmness,  and  half  suspecting  that  the  insanity  of 
the  father  was  hereditary  in  the  family.  'In  Heaven's 
name,  recollect  yourself,  and  get  rid  of  these  hallucina- 
tions. What  inheritance  are  you  dreaming  of? ' 

'That  of  my  mother,  to  be  sure,  who  must  have 
inherited  old  Mongada's  wealth;  and  to  whom  should  it 
descend,  save  to  her  children?  I  am  the  eldest  of  them  — 
that  fact  cannot  be  denied.' 

'  But  consider,  Richard  —  recollect  yourself.' 

*I  do,'  said  Richard;  'and,  what  then?' 

335 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

'Then  you  cannot  but  remember,'  said  Hartley, '  that, 
unless  there  was  a  will  in  your  favour,  your  birth  pre- 
vents you  from  inheriting.' 

'You  are  mistaken,  sir:  I  am  legitimate.  Yonder 
sickly  brats  whom  you  rescued  from  the  grave  are  not 
more  legitimate  than  I  am.  Yes,  our  parents  could  not 
allow  the  air  of  Heaven  to  breathe  on  them;  me  they 
committed  to  the  winds  and  the  waves.  I  am  neverthe- 
less their  lawful  child,  as  well  as  their  puling  offspring  of 
advanced  age  and  decayed  health.  I  saw  them,  Adam: 
Winter  showed  the  nursery  to  me  while  they  were  gath- 
ering courage  to  receive  me  in  the  drawing-room.  There 
they  lay,  the  children  of  predilection,  the  riches  of  the 
East  expended  that  they  might  sleep  soft  and  wake  in 
magnificence.  I,  the  eldest  brother  —  the  heir  —  I  stood 
beside  their  bed  in  the  borrowed  dress  which  I  had  so 
lately  exchanged  for  the  rags  of  an  hospital.  Their 
couches  breathed  the  richest  perfumes,  while  I  was  reek- 
ing from  a  pest-house ;  and  I  —  I  repeat  it  —  the  heir, 
the  produce  of  their  earliest  and  best  love,  was  thus 
treated.  No  wonder  that  my  look  was  that  of  a  basi- 
Usk.' 

'You  speak  as  if  you  were  possessed  with  an  evil 
spirit,'  said  Hartley;  'or  else  you  labour  under  a  strange 
delusion.' 

'  You  think  those  only  are  legally  married  over  whom 
a  drowsy  parson  has  read  the  ceremony  from  a  dog's- 
eared  prayer-book?  It  may  be  so  in  your  English  law; 
but  Scotland  makes  Love  himself  the  priest.  A  vow  be- 
twixt a  fond  couple,  the  blue  heaven  alone  witnessing, 
will  protect  a  confiding  girl  against  the  perjury  of  a  fickle 
swain,  as  much  as  if  a  dean  had  performed  the  rites  in  the 

336 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

loftiest  cathedral  in  England.  Nay,  more;  if  the  child  of 
love  be  acknowledged  by  the  father  at  the  time  when 
he  is  baptized,  if  he  present  the  mother  to  strangers 
of  respectability  as  his  wife,  the  laws  of  Scotland  will 
not  allow  him  to  retract  the  justice  which  has,  in  these 
actions,  been  done  to  the  female  whom  he  has  wronged, 
or  the  offspring  of  their  mutual  love.  This  General 
Tresham,  or  Witherington,  treated  my  unhappy  mother 
as  his  wife  before  Gray  and  others,  quartered  her  as  such 
in  the  family  of  a  respectable  man,  gave  her  the  same 
name  by  which  he  himself  chose  to  pass  for  the  time.  He 
presented  me  to  the  priest  as  his  lawful  offspring;  and  the 
law  of  Scotland,  benevolent  to  the  helpless  child,  will  not 
allow  him  now  to  disown  what  he  so  formally  admitted. 
I  know  my  rights,  and  am  determined  to  claim  them.' 

*  You  do  not  then  intend  to  go  on  board  the  "Middle- 
sex"? Think  a  little.  You  will  lose  your  voyage  and 
your  commission.' 

'I  will  save  my  birthright,'  answered  Middlemas. 
'When  I  thought  of  going  to  India,  I  knew  not  my  par- 
ents, or  how  to  make  good  the  rights  which  I  had  through 
them.  That  riddle  is  solved.  I  am  entitled  to  at  least  a 
third  of  Mongada's  estate,  which,  by  Winter's  account,  is 
considerable.  But  for  you,  and  your  mode  of  treating  the 
small-pox,  I  should  have  had  the  whole.  Little  did  I 
think,  when  old  Gray  was  likely  to  have  his  wig  pulled 
off  for  putting  out  fires,  throwing  open  windows,  and 
exploding  whisky  and  water,  that  the  new  system  of 
treating  the  small-pox  was  to  cost  me  so  many  thousand 
pounds.' 

'You  are  determined,  then,'  said  Hartley,  'on  this 
wild  course? ' 

44  337 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*I  know  my  rights,  and  am  determined  to  make  them 
available/  answered  the  obstinate  youth. 

*  Mr.  Richard  Middlemas,  I  am  sorry  for  you.' 

'  Mr.  Adam  Hartley,  I  beg  to  know  why  I  am  honoured 
by  your  sorrow.' 

'I  pity  you,'  answered  Hartley,  'both  for  the  obsti- 
nacy of  selfishness  which  can  think  of  wealth  after  the 
scene  you  saw  last  night,  and  for  the  idle  vision  which 
leads  you  to  believe  that  you  can  obtain  possession  of 
it.' 

'Selfish!'  cried  Middlemas;  'why,  I  am  a  dutiful  son, 
labouring  to  clear  the  memory  of  a  calumniated  mother. 
And  am  I  a  visionary?  Why,  it  was  to  this  hope  that  I 
awakened  when  old  Mongada's  letter  to  Gray,  devoting 
me  to  perpetual  obscurity,  first  roused  me  to  a  sense  of 
my  situation,  and  dispelled  the  dreams  of  my  childhood. 
Do  you  think  that  I  would  ever  have  submitted  to  the 
drudgery  which  I  shared  with  you,  but  that,  by  doing 
so,  I  kept  in  view  the  only  traces  of  these  unnatural  par- 
ents, by  means  of  which  I  proposed  to  introduce  myself 
to  their  notice,  and,  if  necessary,  enforce  the  rights  of  a 
legitimate  child?  The  silence  and  death  of  Mongada 
broke  my  plans,  and  it  was  then  only  I  reconciled  myself 
to  the  thoughts  of  India.' 

'  You  were  very  young  to  have  known  so  much  of  the 
Scottish  law,  at  the  time  when  we  were  first  acquainted,' 
said  Hartley.  'But  I  can  guess  your  instructor.' 

'No  less  authority  than  Tom  Hillary's,'  replied 
Middlemas.  'His  good  counsel  on  that  head  is  a  reason 
why  I  do  not  now  prosecute  him  to  the  gallows.' 

'I  judged  as  much,'  replied  Hartley;  'for  I  heard  him, 
before  I  left  Middlemas,  debating  the  point  with  Mr. 

338 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Lawford;  and  I  recollect  perfectly  that  he  stated  the 
law  to  be  such  as  you  now  lay  down.' 

'And  what  said  Lawford  in  answer?'  demanded 
Middlemas. 

'  He  admitted,'  replied  Hartley, '  that,  in  circumstances 
where  the  case  was  doubtful,  such  presumptions  of  legiti- 
macy might  be  admitted.  But  he  said  they  were  liable 
to  be  controlled  by  positive  and  precise  testimony,  as, 
for  instance,  the  evidence  of  the  mother  declaring  the 
illegitimacy  of  the  child.' 

*  But  there  can  exist  none  such  in  my  case,'  said  Mid- 
dlemas hastily,  and  with  marks  of  alarm. 

*  I  will  not  deceive  you,  Mr.  Middlemas,  though  I  fear 
I  cannot  help  giving  you  pain.  I  had  yesterday  a  long 
conference  with  your  mother,  Mrs.  Witherington,  in 
which  she  acknowledged  you  as  her  son,  but  a  son  born 
before  marriage.  This  express  declaration  will,  therefore, 
put  an  end  to  the  suppositions  on  which  you  ground  your 
hopes.  If  you  please,  you  may  hear  the  contents  of  her 
declaration,  which  I  have  in  her  own  handwriting.' 

*  Confusion !  is  the  cup  to  be  for  ever  dashed  from  my 
lips?'  muttered  Richard;  but  recovering  his  composure 
by  exertion  of  the  self-command  of  which  he  possessed 
so  large  a  portion,  he  desired  Hartley  to  proceed  with  his 
communication.  Hartley  accordingly  proceeded  to  in- 
form him  of  the  particulars  preceding  his  birth  and  those 
which  followed  after  it;  while  Middlemas,  seated  on  a 
sea-chest,  hstened  with  inimitable  composure  to  a  tale 
which  went  to  root  up  the  flourishing  hopes  of  wealth 
which  he  had  lately  so  fondly  entertained. 

Ziha  Mongada  was  the  only  child  of  a  Portuguese  Jew 
of  great  wealth,  who  had  come  to  London  in  prosecu- 

359 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

tion  of  his  commerce.  Among  the  few  Christians  who 
frequented  his  house,  and  occasionally  his  table,  was 
Richard  Tresham,  a  gentleman  of  a  high  Northumbrian 
family,  deeply  engaged  in  the  service  of  Charles  Edward 
during  his  short  invasion,  and,  though  holding  a  com- 
mission in  the  Portuguese  service,  still  an  object  of  sus- 
picion to  the  British  government  on  account  of  his 
well-known  courage  and  Jacobitical  principles.  The 
highbred  elegance  of  this  gentleman,  together  with  his 
complete  acquaintance  with  the  Portuguese  language 
and  manners,  had  won  the  intimacy  of  old  Mongada, 
and,  alas!  the  heart  of  the  inexperienced  ZiUa,  who, 
beautiful  as  an  angel,  had  as  little  knowledge  of  the 
world  and  its  wickedness  as  the  lamb  that  is  but  a 
week  old. 

Tresham  made  his  proposals  to  Mongada,  perhaps  in 
a  manner  which  too  evidently  showed  that  he  conceived 
the  high-born  Christian  was  degrading  himself  in  asking 
an  alliance  with  the  wealthy  Jew.  Mon^ada  rejected  his 
proposals,  forbade  him  his  house,  but  could  not  prevent 
the  lovers  from  meeting  in  private.  Tresham  made  a 
dishonourable  use  of  the  opportunities  which  the  poor 
Zilia  so  incautiously  afforded,  and  the  consequence  was 
her  ruin.  The  lover,  however,  had  every  purpose  of 
righting  the  injury  which  he  had  inflicted,  and,  after 
various  plans  of  secret  marriage,  which  were  rendered 
abortive  by  the  difference  of  religion  and  other  circum- 
stances, flight  for  Scotland  was  determined  on.  The 
hurry  of  the  journey,  the  fear  and  anxiety  to  which  Zilia 
was  subject,  brought  on  her  confinement  several  weeks 
before  the  usual  time,  so  that  they  were  compelled  to 
accept  of  the  assistance  and  accommodation  offered  by 

340 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Mr.  Gray.  They  had  not  been  there  many  hours  ere 
Tresham  heard,  by  the  medium  of  some  sharp-sighted 
or  keen-eared  friend,  that  there  were  warrants  out 
against  him  for  treasonable  practices.  His  correspond- 
ence with  Charles  Edward  had  become  known  to  Mon- 
f ada  during  the  period  of  their  friendship ;  he  betrayed  it 
in  vengeance  to  the  British  cabinet,  and  warrants  were 
issued,  in  which,  at  Mongada's  request,  his  daughter's 
name  was  included.  This  might  be  of  use,  he  appre- 
hended, to  enable  him  to  separate  his  daughter  from 
Tresham,  should  he  find  the  fugitives  actually  married. 
How  far  he  succeeded  the  reader  already  knows,  as  well 
as  the  precautions  which  he  took  to  prevent  the  living 
evidence  of  his  child's  frailty  from  being  known  to  exist. 
His  daughter  he  carried  with  him,  and  subjected  her  to 
severe  restraint,  which  her  own  reflections  rendered 
doubly  bitter.  It  would  have  completed  his  revenge  had 
the  author  of  Ziha's  misfortunes  been  brought  to  the 
scaffold  for  his  political  offences.  But  Tresham  skulked 
among  friends  in  the  Highlands,  and  escaped  until  the 
affair  blew  over. 

He  afterwards  entered  into  the  East  India  Company's 
service,  under  his  mother's  name  of  Witherington,  which 
concealed  the  Jacobite  and  rebel  until  these  terms  were 
forgotten.  His  skill  in  military  affairs  soon  raised  him  to 
riches  and  eminence.  When  he  returned  to  Britain  his 
first  inquiries  were  after  the  family  of  Mongada.  His 
fame,  his  wealth,  and  the  late  conviction  that  his  daugh- 
ter never  would  marry  any  but  him  who  had  her  first 
love  induced  the  old  man  to  give  that  encouragement  to 
General  Witherington  which  he  had  always  denied  to 
the  poor  and  outlawed  Major  Tresham;  and  the  lovers, 

341 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

after  having  been  fourteen  years  separated,  were  at 
length  united  in  wedlock- 
General  Witherington  eagerly  concurred  in  the  earnest 
wish  of  his  father-in-law,  that  every  remembrance  of 
former  events  should  be  buried,  by  leaving  the  fruit  of 
the  early  and  unhappy  intrigue  suitably  provided  for, 
but  in  a  distant  and  obscure  situation.  Zilia  thought  far 
otherwise.  Her  heart  longed,  with  a  mother's  longing, 
towards  the  object  of  her  first  maternal  tenderness,  but 
she  dared  not  place  herself  in  opposition  at  once  to  the 
will  of  her  father  and  the  decision  of  her  husband.  The 
former,  his  reUgious  prejudices  much  effaced  by  his  long 
residence  in  England,  had  given  consent  that  she  should 
conform  to  the  established  religion  of  her  husband  and 
her  country;  the  latter,  haughty  as  we  have  described 
him,  made  it  his  pride  to  introduce  the  beautiful  convert 
among  his  high-born  kindred.  The  discovery  of  her  for- 
mer frailty  would  have  proved  a  blow  to  her  respectabil- 
ity which  he  dreaded  like  death;  and  it  could  not  long 
remain  a  secret  from  his  wife  that,  in  consequence  of  a 
severe  illness  in  India,  even  his  reason  became  occasion- 
ally shaken  by  anything  which  violently  agitated  his 
feelings.  She  had,  therefore,  acquiesced  in  patience  and 
silence  in  the  course  of  policy  which  Mongada  had 
devised,  and  which  her  husband  anxiously  and  warmly 
approved.  Yet  her  thoughts,  even  when  their  marriage 
was  blessed  with  other  offspring,  anxiously  reverted  to 
the  banished  and  outcast  child  who  had  first  been 
clasped  to  the  maternal  bosom. 

All  these  feelings,  'subdued  and  cherished  along,' 
were  set  afloat  in  full  tide  by  the  unexpected  discovery 
of  this  son,  redeemed  from  a  lot  of  extreme  misery,  and 

342 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

placed  before  his  mother's  imagination  in  circumstances 
so  disastrous. 

It  was  in  vain  that  her  husband  had  assured  her  that 
he  would  secure  the  young  man's  prosperity  by  his  purse 
and  his  interest.  She  could  not  be  satisfied  until  she 
had  herself  done  something  to  alleviate  the  doom  of 
banishment  to  which  her  eldest-born  was  thus  con- 
demned. She  was  the  more  eager  to  do  so,  as  she  felt  the 
extreme  delicacy  of  her  health,  which  was  undermined 
by  so  many  years  of  secret  suffering. 

Mrs.  Witherington  was,  in  conferring  her  maternal 
bounty,  naturally  led  to  employ  the  agency  of  Hartley, 
the  companion  of  her  son,  and  to  whom,  since  the  recov- 
ery of  her  younger  children,  she  almost  looked  up  as  to  a 
tutelar  deity.  She  placed  in  his  hands  a  sum  of  £2000, 
which  she  had  at  her  own  unchallenged  disposal,  with  a 
request,  uttered  in  the  fondest  and  most  affectionate 
terms,  that  it  might  be  applied  to  the  service  of  Richard 
Middlemas  in  the  way  Hartley  should  think  most  useful 
to  him.  She  assured  him  of  further  support  as  it  should 
be  needed ;  and  a  note  to  the  following  purport  was  also 
entrusted  to  him,  to  be  delivered  when  and  where  the 
prudence  of  Hartley  should  judge  it  proper  to  confide  to 
him  the  secret  of  his  birth. 

*0h,  Benoni!  Oh,  child  of  my  sorrow!'  said  this 
interesting  document,  'why  should  the  eyes  of  thy  un- 
happy mother  be  about  to  obtain  permission  to  look  on 
thee,  since  her  arms  were  denied  the  right  to  fold  thee  to 
her  bosom?  May  the  God  of  Jews  and  of  Gentiles  watch 
over  thee  and  guard  thee !  May  He  remove,  in  His  good 
time,  the  darkness  which  rolls  between  me  and  the 

343 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

beloved  of  my  heart  —  the  first  fruit  of  my  imhappy, 
nay,  unhallowed,  afifection.  Do  not  —  do  not,  my 
beloved,  think  thyself  a  lonely  exile,  while  thy  mother's 
prayers  arise  for  thee  at  sunrise  and  at  sunset,  to  call 
down  every  blessing  on  thy  head  —  to  invoke  every 
power  in  thy  protection  and  defence.  Seek  not  to  see  me. 
Oh,  why  must  I  say  so?  But  let  me  humble  myself  in  the 
dust,  since  it  is  my  own  sin,  my  own  folly,  which  I  must 
blame;  but  seek  not  to  see  or  speak  with  me  —  it  might 
be  the  death  of  both.  Confide  thy  thoughts  to  the  excel- 
lent Hartley,  who  hath  been  the  guardian  angel  of  us  all, 
even  as  the  tribes  of  Israel  had  each  their  guardian  angel. 
What  thou  shalt  wish,  and  he  shall  advise  in  thy  behalf, 
shall  be  done,  if  in  the  power  of  a  mother.  And  the  love 
of  a  mother,  —  is  it  bounded  by  seas,  or  can  deserts  and 
distance  measure  its  limits?  Oh,  child  of  my  sorrow! 
Oh,  Benoni!  let  thy  spirit  be  with  mine,  as  mine  is  with 
thee.  Z.   M.' 

All  these  arrangements  being  completed,  the  unfortu- 
nate lady  next  insisted  with  her  husband  that  she  should 
be  permitted  to  see  her  son  in  that  parting  interview 
which  terminated  so  fatally.  Hartley,  therefore,  now 
discharged  as  her  executor  the  duty  entrusted  to  him  as 
her  confidential  agent. 

'  Surely,'  he  thought,  as,  having  finished  his  communi- 
cation, he  was  about  to  leave  the  apartment  —  '  surely 
the  demons  of  ambition  and  avarice  will  unclose  the 
talons  which  they  have  fixed  upon  this  man,  at  a  charm 
like  this.' 

And  indeed  Richard's  heart  had  been  formed  of  the 
nether  millstone  had  he  not  been  duly  affected  by  these 

344 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

first  and  last  tokens  of  his  mother's  affection.  He  leant 
his  head  upon  a  table,  and  his  tears  flowed  plentifully. 
Hartley  left  him  undisturbed  for  more  than  an  hour,  and 
on  his  return  foimd  him  in  nearly  the  same  attitude  in 
which  he  had  left  him. 

'I  regret  to  disturb  you  at  this  moment,'  he  said,  'but 
I  have  still  a  part  of  my  duty  to  discharge.  I  must  place 
in  your  possession  the  deposit  which  your  mother  made 
in  my  hands;  and  I  must  also  remind  you  that  time  flies 
fast,  and  that  you  have  scarce  an  hour  or  two  to  deter- 
mine whether  you  will  prosecute  your  Indian  voyage 
imder  the  new  view  of  circumstances  which  I  have 
opened  to  you.' 

Middlemas  took  the  bills  which  his  mother  had  be- 
queathed him.  As  he  raised  his  head  Hartley  could  ob- 
serve that  his  face  was  stained  with  tears.  Yet  he 
counted  over  the  money  with  mercantile  accuracy;  and 
though  he  assumed  the  pen  for  the  purpose  of  writing  a 
discharge  with  an  air  of  inconsolable  dejection,  yet  he 
drew  it  up  in  good  set  terms,  Uke  one  who  had  his  senses 
much  at  his  command. 

'And  now,'  he  said,  in  a  mournful  voice,  'give  me  my 
mother's  narrative.' 

Hartley  almost  started,  and  answered  hastily,  'You 
have  the  poor  lady's  letter,  which  was  addressed  to 
yourself ;  the  narrative  is  addressed  to  me.  It  is  my  war- 
rant for  disposing  of  a  large  sum  of  money;  it  concerns 
the  rights  of  third  parties,  and  I  cannot  part  with  it.' 

'  Surely  —  surely  it  were  better  to  deliver  it  into  my 
hands,  were  it  but  to  weep  over  it,'  answered  Middlemas. 
*  My  fortune,  Hartley,  has  been  very  cruel.  You  see  that 
my  parents  purposed  to  have  made  me  their  undoubted 

345 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

heir;  yet  their  purpose  was  disappointed  by  accident. 
And  now  my  mother  comes  with  well-intended  fondness, 
and,  while  she  means  to  advance  my  fortune,  furnishes 
evidence  to  destroy  it.  Come  —  come,  Hartley,  you 
must  be  conscious  that  my  mother  wrote  those  details 
entirely  for  my  information.  I  am  the  rightful  owner, 
and  insist  on  having  them.' 

'I  am  sorry  I  must  insist  on  refusing  your  demand,* 
answered  Hartley,  putting  the  papers  in  his  pocket. 
*  You  ought  to  consider  that,  if  this  communication  has 
destroyed  the  idle  and  groundless  hopes  which  you  have 
indulged  in,  it  has,  at  the  same  time,  more  than  trebled 
your  capital;  and  that  if  there  are  some  hundreds  or 
thousands  in  the  world  richer  than  yourself,  there  are 
many  millions  not  half  so  well  provided.  Set  a  braver 
spirit,  then,  against  your  fortune,  and  do  not  doubt  your 
success  in  life.' 

His  words  seemed  to  sink  into  the  gloomy  mind  ol 
Middlemas.  He  stood  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then 
answered  with  a  reluctant  and  insinuating  voice,  — 

'My  dear  Hartley,  we  have  long  been  companions; 
you  can  have  neither  pleasure  nor  interest  in  ruining 
my  hopes  —  you  may  find  some  in  forwarding  them. 
Mon^ada's  fortune  will  enable  me  to  allow  five  thou- 
sand pounds  to  the  friend  who  should  aid  me  in  my 
difiiculties.' 

'  Good  morning  to  you,  Mr.  Middlemas,'  said  Hartley, 
endeavouring  to  withdraw. 

'One  moment  —  one  moment,'  said  Middlemas,  hold- 
ing his  friend  by  the  button  at  the  same  time,  '  I  meant 
to  say  ten  thousand  —  and  —  and  —  marry  whomso- 
ever you  like  —  I  will  not  be  your  hinderance.' 

346 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*You  are  a  villain!'  said  Hartley,  breaking  from  him, 
*and  I  always  thought  you  so.' 

'And  you,'  answered  Middlemas,  'are  a  fool,  and  I 
never  thought  you  better.  Off  he  goes.  Let  him  —  the 
game  has  been  played  and  lost.  I  must  hedge  my  bets: 
India  must  be  my  back-play.' 

All  was  in  readiness  for  his  departure.  A  small  vessel 
and  a  favouring  gale  conveyed  him  and  several  other 
military  gentlemen  to  the  Downs,  where  the  Indiaman 
which  was  to  transport  them  from  Europe  lay  ready  for 
their  reception. 

His  first  feelings  were  sufficiently  disconsolate.  But 
accustomed  from  his  infancy  to  conceal  his  internal 
thoughts,  he  appeared  in  the  course  of  a  week  the  gayest 
and  best-bred  passenger  who  ever  dared  the  long  and 
weary  space  betwixt  Old  England  and  her  Indian  posses- 
sions. At  Madras,  where  the  sociable  feelings  of  the 
resident  inhabitants  give  ready  way  to  enthusiasm  in 
behalf  of  any  stranger  of  agreeable  qualities,  he  experi- 
enced that  warm  hospitality  which  distinguishes  the 
British  character  in  the  East. 

Middlemas  was  well  received  in  company,  and  in  the 
way  of  becoming  an  indispensable  guest  at  every  enter- 
tainment in  the  place,  when  the  vessel  on  board  of  which 
Hartley  acted  as  surgeon's  mate  arrived  at  the  same 
settlement.  The  latter  would  not,  from  his  situation, 
have  been  entitled  to  expect  much  civility  and  atten- 
tion; but  this  disadvantage  was  made  up  by  his  possess- 
ing the  most  powerful  introductions  from  General  With- 
erington,  and  from  other  persons  of  weight  in  Leadenhall 
Street,  the  General's  friends,  to  the  principal  inhabi- 
tants in  the  settlement.   He  found  himself  once  more, 

347 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

therefore,  moving  in  the  same  sphere  with  Middlemas, 
and  under  the  alternative  of  living  with  him  on  decent 
and  distant  terms,  or  of  breaking  off  with  him  altogether. 

The  first  of  these  courses  might  perhaps  have  been  the 
wisest;  but  the  other  was  most  congenial  to  the  blunt 
and  plain  character  of  Hartley,  who  saw  neither  propri- 
ety nor  comfort  in  maintaining  a  show  of  friendly  inter- 
course, to  conceal  hate,  contempt,  and  mutual  dislike. 

The  circle  at  Fort  St.  George  was  much  more  re- 
stricted at  that  time  than  it  has  been  since.  The  coldness 
of  the  young  men  did  not  escape  notice.  It  transpired 
that  they  had  been  once  intimates  and  fellow-students; 
yet  it  was  now  found  that  they  hesitated  at  accepting 
invitations  to  the  same  parties.  Rumour  assigned  many 
different  and  incompatible  reasons  for  this  deadly 
breach,  to  which  Hartley  gave  no  attention  whatever, 
while  Lieutenant  Middlemas  took  care  to  countenance 
those  which  represented  the  cause  of  the  quarrel  most 
favourably  to  himself. 

*A  little  bit  of  rivalry  had  taken  place,'  he  said,  when 
pressed  by  gentlemen  for  an  explanation;  'he  had  only 
had  the  good  luck  to  get  further  in  the  good  graces  of  a 
fair  lady  than  his  friend  Hartley,  who  had  made  a  quar- 
rel of  it,  as  they  saw.  He  thought  it  very  silly  to  keep  up 
spleen,  at  such  a  distance  of  time  and  space.  He  was 
sorry,  more  for  the  sake  of  the  strangeness  of  the  appear- 
ance of  the  thing  than  anything  else,  although  his  friend 
had  really  some  very  good  points  about  him.' 

While  these  whispers  were  working  their  effect  in 
society,  they  did  not  prevent  Hartley  from  receiving  the 
most  flattering  assurances  of  encouragement  and  official 
promotion  from  the  Madras  government  as  opportunity 

348 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

should  arise.  Soon  after,  it  was  intimated  to  him  that  a 
medical  appointment  of  a  lucrative  nature  in  a  remote 
settlement  was  conferred  on  him,  which  removed  him 
for  some  time  from  Madras  and  its  neighbourhood. 

Hartley  accordingly  sailed  on  his  distant  expedition; 
and  it  was  observed  that  after  his  departure  the  charac- 
ter of  Middlemas,  as  if  some  check  had  been  removed, 
began  to  display  itself  in  disagreeable  colours.  It  was 
noticed  that  this  young  man,  whose  manners  were  so 
agreeable  and  so  courteous  during  the  first  months  after 
his  arrival  in  India,  began  now  to  show  symptoms  of  a 
haughty  and  overbearing  spirit.  He  had  adopted,  for 
reasons  which  the  reader  may  conjecture,  but  which 
appeared  to  be  mere  whim  at  Fort  St.  George,  the  name 
of  Tresham  in  addition  to  that  by  which  he  had  hitherto 
been  distinguished,  and  in  this  he  persisted  with  an 
obstinacy  which  belonged  more  to  the  pride  than  the 
craft  of  his  character.  The  Heutenant-colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment, an  old  cross-tempered  martinet,  did  not  choose  to 
indulge  the  captain  (such  was  now  the  rank  of  Middle- 
mas) in  this  humour. 

'He  knew  no  officer,'  he  said,  'by  any  name  save  that 
which  he  bore  in  his  commission/  and  he  Middlemas'd 
the  captain  on  all  occasions. 

One  fatal  evening,  the  captain  was  so  much  provoked 
as  to  intimate  peremptorily  'that  he  knew  his  own 
name  best.' 

'Why,  Captain  Middlemas,'  replied  the  colonel,  'it  is 
not  every  child  that  knows  its  own  father,  so  how  can 
every  man  be  so  sure  of  his  own  name?' 

The  bow  was  drawn  at  a  venture,  but  the  shaft  found 
the  rent  in  the  armour  and  stung  deeply.  In  spite  of  all 

349 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  interposition  which  could  be  attempted,  Middlemas 
insisted  on  challenging  the  colonel,  who  could  be  per- 
suaded to  no  apology. 

'If  Captain  Middlemas,'  he  said,  'thought  the  cap 
fitted,  he  was  welcome  to  wear  it.' 

The  result  was  a  meeting,  in  which,  after  the  parties 
had  exchanged  shots,  the  seconds  tendered  their  media- 
tion. It  was  rejected  by  Middlemas,  who  at  the  second 
fire  had  the  misfortune  to  kill  his  commanding  ofificer. 
In  consequence,  he  was  obliged  to  fly  from  the  British 
settlements;  for,  being  universally  blamed  for  having 
pushed  the  quarrel  to  extremity,  there  was  little  doubt 
that  the  whole  severity  of  military  discipline  would  be 
exercised  upon  the  deUnquent.  Middlemas,  therefore, 
vanished  from  Fort  St.  George,  and,  though  the  affair 
had  made  much  noise  at  the  time,  was  soon  no  longer 
talked  of.  It  was  understood,  in  general,  that  he  had 
gone  to  seek  that  fortune  at  the  court  of  some  native 
prince  which  he  could  no  longer  hope  for  in  the  British 
settlements. 


CHAPTER  X 

Three  years  passed  away  after  the  fatal  rencounter 
mentioned  in  the  last  chapter,  and  Dr.  Hartley,  return- 
ing from  his  appointed  mission,  which  was  only  tempo- 
rary, received  encouragement  to  settle  in  Madras  in  a 
medical  capacity;  and,  upon  having  done  so,  soon  had 
reason  to  think  he  had  chosen  a  line  in  which  he  might 
rise  to  wealth  and  reputation.  His  practice  was  not  con- 
fined to  his  countrymen,  but  much  sought  after  among 
the  natives,  who,  whatever  may  be  their  prejudices 
against  the  Europeans  in  other  respects,  universally 
esteem  their  superior  powers  in  the  medical  profession. 
This  lucrative  branch  of  practice  rendered  it  necessary 
that  Hartley  should  make  the  Oriental  languages  his 
study,  in  order  to  hold  communication  with  his  patients 
without  the  intervention  of  an  interpreter.  He  had 
enough  of  opportunities  to  practise  as  a  Unguist,  for,  in 
acknowledgment,  as  he  used  jocularly  to  say,  of  the  large 
fees  of  the  wealthy  Moslemah  and  Hindoos,  he  attended 
the  poor  of  all  nations  gratis,  whenever  he  was  called 
upon. 

It  so  chanced,  that  one  evening  he  was  hastily  sum- 
moned, by  a  message  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  attend  a  patient  of  consequence.  'Yet  he  is, 
after  all,  only  a  fakir,'  said  the  message.  'You  will  find 
him  at  the  tomb  of  Cara  Razi,  the  Mohammedan  saint 
and  doctor,  about  one  coss  from  the  fort.  Inquire  for 
him  by  the  name  of  Barak  el  Hadgi.    Such  a  patient 

351 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

promises  no  fees;  but  we  know  how  little  you  care  about 
the  pagodas,  and,  besides,  the  Government  is  your  pay- 
master on  this  occasion.' 

'That  is  the  last  matter  to  be  thought  on,'  said  Hart- 
ley, and  instantly  repaired  in  his  palanquin  to  the  place 
pointed  out  to  him. 

The  tomb  of  the  owliah,  or  Mohammedan  saint,  Cara 
Razi,  was  a  place  held  in  much  reverence  by  every  good 
Mussulman.  It  was  situated  in  the  centre  of  a  grove  of 
mangos  and  tamarind-trees,  and  was  built  of  red  stone, 
having  three  domes,  and  minarets  at  every  corner. 
There  was  a  court  in  front,  as  usual,  around  which  were 
cells  constructed  for  the  accommodation  of  the  fakirs 
who  visited  the  tomb  from  motives  of  devotion,  and 
made  a  longer  or  shorter  residence  there  as  they  thought 
proper,  subsisting  upon  the  alms  which  the  faithful  never 
fail  to  bestow  on  them  in  exchange  for  the  benefit  of 
their  prayers.  These  devotees  were  engaged  day  and 
night  in  reading  verses  of  the  Koran  before  the  tomb, 
which  was  constructed  of  white  marble,  inscribed  with 
sentences  from  the  book  of  the  Prophet,  and  with  the 
various  titles  conferred  by  the  Koran  upon  the  Supreme 
Being.  Such  a  sepulchre,  of  which  there  are  many,  is,  with 
its  appendages  and  attendants,  respected  during  wars 
and  revolutions,  and  no  less  by  Feringis  (Franks,  that 
is)  and  Hindoos  than  by  Mohammedans  themselves. 
The  fakirs,  in  return,  act  as  spies  for  all  parties,  and  are 
often  employed  in  secret  missions  of  importance. 

Complying  with  the  Mohammedan  custom,  our  friend 
Hartley  laid  aside  his  shoes  at  the  gates  of  the  holy  pre- 
cincts, and  avoiding  to  give  offence  by  approaching  near 
to  the  tomb,  he  went  up  to  the  principal  moullah,  or 

352 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

priest,  who  was  distinguishable  by  the  length  of  his 
beard  and  the  size  of  the  large  wooden  beads,  with  which 
the  Mohammedans,  like  the  CathoUcs,  keep  register  of 
their  prayers.  Such  a  person,  venerable  by  his  age, 
sanctity  of  character,  and  his  real  or  supposed  contempt 
of  worldly  pursuits  and  enjoyments,  is  regarded  as  the 
head  of  an  estabUshment  of  this  kind. 

The  moullah  is  permitted  by  his  situation  to  be  more 
communicative  with  strangers  than  his  younger  breth- 
ren, who  in  the  present  instance  remained  with  their 
eyes  fixed  on  the  Koran,  muttering  their  recitations 
without  noticing  the  European,  or  attending  to  what  he 
said,  as  he  inquired  at  their  superior  for  Barak  el  Hadgi. 

The  moullah  was  seated  on  the  earth,  from  which  he 
did  not  arise,  or  show  any  mark  of  reverence;  nor  did  he 
interrupt  the  tale  of  his  beads,  which  he  continued  to 
count  assiduously  while  Hartley  was  speaking.  When  he 
finished,  the  old  man  raised  his  eyes,  and  looking  at  him 
with  an  air  of  distraction,  as  if  he  was  endeavouring  to 
recollect  what  he  had  been  saying,  he  at  length  pointed 
to  one  of  the  cells,  and  resumed  his  devotions  like  one 
who  felt  impatient  of  whatever  withdrew  his  attention 
from  his  sacred  duties,  were  it  but  for  an  instant. 

Hartley  entered  the  cell  indicated,  with  the  usual 
salutation  of  'Salam  alaikum.'  His  patient  lay  on  a  little 
carpet  in  a  corner  of  the  small  whitewashed  cell.  He  was 
a  man  of  about  forty,  dressed  in  the  black  robe  of  his 
order,  very  much  torn  and  patched.  He  wore  a  high, 
conical  cap  of  Tartarian  felt,  and  had  round  his  neck  the 
string  of  black  beads  belonging  to  his  order.  His  eyes 
and  posture  indicated  suffering,  which  he  was  enduring 
with  stoical  patience. 

«  353 


WAVERLEY   NOVELS 

^Salam  alaikum/  said  Hartley;  'you  are  in  pain,  my 
father?'  a  title  which  he  gave  rather  to  the  profession 
than  to  the  years  of  the  person  he  addressed. 

^Salam  alaikum  bema  sebastem/  answered  the  fakir. 
*  Well  is  it  for  you  that  you  have  suffered  patiently.  The 
Book  saith,  such  shall  be  the  greeting  of  the  angels  to 
those  who  enter  paradise.' 

The  conversation  being  thus  opened,  the  physician 
proceeded  to  inquire  into  the  complaints  of  the  patient, 
and  to  prescribe  what  he  thought  advisable.  Having  done 
this,  he  was  about  to  retire,  when,  to  his  great  surprise, 
the  fakir  tendered  him  a  ring  of  some  value. 

'The  wise,'  said  Hartley,  declining  the  present,  and 
at  the  same  time  paying  a  suitable  compliment  to 
the  fakir's  cap  and  robe  —  '  the  wise  of  every  country 
are  brethren.  My  left  hand  takes  no  guerdon  of  my 
right.' 

*A  Feringi  can  then  refuse  gold!'  said  the  fakir.  'I 
thought  they  took  it  from  every  hand,  whether  pure  as 
that  of  an  houri  or  leprous  Uke  Gehazi's,  even  as  the 
hungry  dog  recketh  not  whether  the  flesh  he  eateth  be 
of  the  camel  of  the  prophet  Saleth  or  of  the  ass  of  Degial, 
on  whose  head  be  curses ! ' 

'The  Book  says,'  replied  Hartley,  'that  it  is  Allah 
who  closes  and  who  enlarges  the  heart.  Frank  and 
Mussulman  are  all  alike  moulded  by  His  pleasure.' 

'My  brother  hath  spoken  wisely,'  answered  the  pa- 
tient. 'Welcome  the  disease,  if  it  bring  thee  acquainted 
with  a  wise  physician.  For  what  saith  the  poet  —  "  It  is 
well  to  have  fallen  to  the  earth,  if  while  grovelling  there 
thou  shalt  discover  a  diamond"?' 

The  physician  made  repeated  visits  to  his  patient,  and 

354 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

continued  to  do  so  even  after  the  health  of  El  Hadgi  was 
entirely  restored.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  discerning  in 
him  one  of  those  secret  agents  frequently  employed  by 
Asiatic  sovereigns.  His  intelligence,  his  learning,  above 
all,  his  versatility  and  freedom  from  prejudices  of  every 
kind,  left  no  doubt  of  Barak's  possessing  the  necessary 
qualifications  for  conducting  such  delicate  negotiations ; 
while  his  gravity  of  habit  and  profession  could  not 
prevent  his  features  from  expressing  occasionally  a 
perception  of  humour,  not  usually  seen  in  devotees  of 
his  class. 

Barak  el  Hadgi  talked  often,  amidst  their  private 
conversations,  of  the  power  and  dignity  of  the  Nawaub 
of  Mysore;  and  Hartley  had  Uttle  doubt  that  he  came 
from  the  court  of  Hyder  AH  on  some  secret  mission,  per- 
haps for  achieving  a  more  solid  peace  betwixt  that  able 
and  sagacious  prince  and  the  East  India  Company's 
Government,  that  which  existed  for  the  time  being 
regarded  on  both  parts  as  little  more  than  a  hollow  and 
insincere  truce.  He  told  many  stories  to  the  advantage 
of  this  prince,  who  certainly  was  one  of  the  wisest  that 
Hindostan  could  boast,  and,  amidst  great  crimes,  per- 
petrated to  gratify  his  ambition,  displayed  many  in- 
stances of  princely  generosity,  and,  what  was  a  little 
more  surprising,  of  even-handed  justice. 

On  one  occasion,  shortly  before  Barak  el  Hadgi  left 
Madras,  he  visited  the  doctor,  and  partook  of  his  sher- 
bet, which  he  preferred  to  his  own,  perhaps  because  a 
few  glasses  of  rum  or  brandy  were  usually  added  to 
enrich  the  compound.  It  might  be  owing  to  repeated 
applications  to  the  jar  which  contained  this  generous 
fluid,  that  the  pilgrim  became  more  than  usually  frank 

355 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

in  his  communications,  and,  not  contented  with  praising 
his  Nawaub  with  the  most  hyperbolic  eloquence,  he 
began  to  insinuate  the  influence  which  he  himself  en- 
joyed with  the  Invincible,  the  Lord  and  Shield  of  the 
Faith  of  the  Prophet. 

'Brother  of  my  soul,'  he  said,  'do  but  think  if  thou 
needest  aught  that  the  all-powerful  Hyder  Ali  Khan 
Bahauder  can  give;  and  then  use  not  the  intercession  of 
those  who  dwell  in  palaces,  and  wear  jewels  in  their 
turbans,  but  seek  the  cell  of  thy  brother  at  the  great 
city,  which  is  Seringapatam.  And  the  poor  fakir,  in  his 
torn  cloak,  shall  better  advance  thy  suit  with  the 
Nawaub '  —  for  Hyder  did  not  assume  the  title  of 
Sultaim  —  'than  they  who  sit  upon  seats  of  honour  in 
the  divan.' 

With  these  and  sundry  other  expressions  of  regard,  he 
exhorted  Hartley  to  come  into  the  Mysore,  and  look 
upon  the  face  of  the  great  prince,  whose  glance  inspired 
wisdom  and  whose  nod  conferred  wealth,  so  that  folly 
or  poverty  could  not  appear  before  him.  He  offered  at 
the  same  time  to  requite  the  kindness  which  Hartley 
had  evinced  to  him,  by  showing  him  whatever  was 
worthy  the  attention  of  a  sage  in  the  land  of  Mysore. 

Hartley  was  not  reluctant  to  promise  to  undertake  the 
proposed  journey,  if  the  continuance  of  good  under- 
standing betwixt  their  governments  should  render  it 
practicable,  and  in  reality  looked  forward  to  the  possi- 
bility of  such  an  event  with  a  good  deal  of  interest.  The 
friends  parted  with  mutual  good  wishes,  after  exchang- 
ing, in  the  Oriental  fashion,  such  gifts  as  became  sages, 
to  whom  knowledge  was  to  be  supposed  dearer  than 
wealth.  Barak  el  Hadgi  presented  Hartley  with  a  small 

356 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

quantity  of  the  balsam  of  Mecca,  very  hard  to  be  pro- 
cured in  an  unadulterated  form,  and  gave  him  at  the 
same  time  a  passport  in  a  peculiar  character,  which  he 
assured  him  would  be  respected  by  every  officer  of  the 
Nawaub,  should  his  friend  be  disposed  to  accomplish 
his  visit  to  the  Mysore.  'The  head  of  him  who  should 
disrespect  this  safe-conduct,'  he  said,  "'shall  not  be  more 
safe  than  that  of  the  barley-stalk  which  the  reaper  has 
grasped  in  his  hand.' 

Hartley  requited  these  civilities  by  the  present  of  a 
few  medicines  Httle  used  in  the  East,  but  such  as  he 
thought  might,  with  suitable  directions,  be  safely  en- 
trusted to  a  man  so  inteUigent  as  his  Moslem  friend. 

It  was  several  months  after  Barak  had  returned  to 
the  interior  of  India  that  Hartley  was  astonished  by  an 
unexpected  rencounter. 

The  ships  from  Europe  had  but  lately  arrived,  and 
had  brought  over  their  usual  cargo  of  boys  longing  to  be 
commanders,  and  young  women  without  any  purpose  of 
being  married,  but  whom  a  pious  duty  to  some  brother, 
some  uncle,  or  other  male  relative,  brought  to  India  to 
keep  his  house,  until  they  should  find  themselves 
unexpectedly  in  one  of  their  own.  Dr.  Hartley  hap- 
pened to  attend  a  public  breakfast  given  on  this  occasion 
by  a  gentleman  high  in  the  service.  The  roof  of  his  friend 
had  been  recently  enriched  by  a  consignment  of  three 
nieces,  whom  the  old  gentleman,  justly  attached  to  his 
quiet  hookah,  and,  it  was  said,  to  a  pretty  girl  of  colour, 
desired  to  offer  to  the  pubUc,  that  he  might  have  the 
fairest  chance  to  get  rid  of  his  new  guests  as  soon  as 
possible.  Hartley,  who  was  thought  a  fish  worth  casting 
a  fly  for,  was  contemplating  this  fair  investment  with 

357 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

very  little  interest,  when  he  heard  one  of  the  company 
say  to  another  in  a  low  voice  — 

'Angels  and  ministers!  there  is  our  old  acquaintance, 
the  Queen  of  Sheba,  returned  upon  our  hands  like 
unsaleable  goods.' 

Hartley  looked  in  the  same  direction  with  the  two 
who  were  speaking,  and  his  eye  was  caught  by  a  Semira- 
mis-looking  person,  of  unusual  stature  and  amplitude, 
arrayed  in  a  sort  of  riding-habit,  but  so  formed,  and  so 
looped  and  gallooned  with  lace,  as  made  it  resemble  the 
upper  tunic  of  a  native  chief.  Her  robe  was  composed  of 
crimson  silk,  rich  with  flowers  of  gold.  She  wore  wide 
trowsers  of  hght  blue  silk,  a  fine  scarlet  shawl  around  her 
waist,  in  which  was  stuck  a  creeze,  with  a  richly  orna- 
mented handle.  Her  throat  and  arms  were  loaded  with 
chains  and  bracelets,  and  her  turban,  formed  of  a  shawl 
similar  to  that  worn  around  her  waist,  was  decorated  by 
a  magnificent  aigrette,  from  which  a  blue  ostrich  plume 
flowed  in  one  direction  and  a  red  one  in  another.  The 
brow,  of  European  complexion,  on  which  this  tiara 
rested,  was  too  lofty  for  beauty,  but  seemed  made  for 
command;  the  aquiline  nose  retained  its  form,  but  the 
cheeks  were  a  little  sunken,  and  the  complexion  so  very 
brilliant  as  to  give  strong  evidence  that  the  whole 
countenance  had  undergone  a  thorough  repair  since  the 
lady  had  left  her  couch.  A  black  female  slave,  richly 
dressed,  stood  behind  her  with  a  chowry,  or  cow's  tail, 
having  a  silver  handle,  which  she  used  to  keep  off  the 
flies.  From  the  mode  in  which  she  was  addressed  by 
those  who  spoke  to  her,  this  lady  appeared  a  person 
of  too  much  importance  to  be  affronted  or  neglected, 
and   yet  one  with  whom  none  desired  further  com- 

358 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

munication  than  the  occasion  seemed  in  propriety  to 
demand. 

She  did  not,  however,  stand  in  need  of  attention.  The 
well-known  captain  of  an  East  Indian  vessel  lately 
arrived  from  Britain  was  sedulously  polite  to  her;  and 
two  or  three  gentlemen,  whom  Hartley  knew  to  be 
engaged  in  trade,  tended  upon  her  as  they  would  have 
done  upon  the  safety  of  a  rich  argosy. 

*  For  Heaven's  sake,  what  is  that  for  a  Zenobia? '  said 
Hartley  to  the  gentleman  whose  whisper  had  first 
attracted  his  attention  to  this  lofty  dame. 

*Is  it  possible  you  do  not  know  the  Queen  of  Sheba?' 
said  the  person  of  whom  he  inquired,  no  way  loth  to 
communicate  the  information  demanded.  'You  must 
know,  then,  that  she  is  the  daughter  of  a  Scotch  emi- 
grant, who  lived  and  died  at  Pondicherry,  a  sergeant  in 
Lally's  regiment.  She  managed  to  marry  a  partizan 
officer  named  Montreville,  a  Swiss  or  Frenchman,  I 
cannot  tell  which.  After  the  surrender  of  Pondicherry, 
this  hero  and  heroine  —  But  hey  —  what  the  devil  are 
you  thinking  of?  If  you  stare  at  her  that  way  you  will 
make  a  scene;  for  she  will  think  nothing  of  scolding  you 
across  the  table.' 

But,  without  attending  to  his  friend's  remonstrances, 
Hartley  bolted  from  the  table  at  which  he  sat,  and  made 
his  way,  with  something  less  than  the  decorum  which 
the  rules  of  society  enjoin,  towards  the  place  where  the 
lady  in  question  was  seated. 

'The  doctor  is  surely  mad  this  morning — '  said  his 
friend  Major  Mercer  to  old  Quartermaster  Calder. 

Indeed,  Hartley  was  not  perhaps  strictly  in  his  senses; 
for,  looking  at  the  Queen  of  Sheba  as  he  listened  to 

359 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Major  Mercer,  his  eye  fell  on  a  light  female  form  beside 
her,  so  placed  as  if  she  desired  to  be  eclipsed  by  the 
bulky  form  and  flowing  robes  we  have  described,  and  to 
his  extreme  astonishment  he  recognised  the  friend  of 
his  childhood,  the  love  of  his  youth  —  Menie  Gray  her- 
self! 

To  see  her  in  India  was  in  itself  astonishing.  To  see 
her  apparently  under  such  strange  patronage  greatly 
increased  his  surprise.  To  make  his  way  to  her  and 
address  her  seemed  the  natural  and  direct  mode  of 
satisfying  the  feelings  which  her  appearance  excited. 

His  impetuosity  was,  however,  checked  when, 
advancing  close  upon  Miss  Gray  and  her  companion, 
he  observed  that  the  former,  though  she  looked  at  him, 
exhibited  not  the  slightest  token  of  recognition,  unless 
he  could  interpret  as  such  that  she  shghtly  touched  her 
upper  lip  with  her  forefinger,  which,  if  it  happened 
otherwise  than  by  mere  accident,  might  be  construed 
to  mean,  'Do  not  speak  to  me  just  now.' 

Hartley,  adopting  such  an  interpretation,  stood  stock 
still,  blushing  deeply;  for  he  was  aware  that  he  made  for 
the  moment  but  a  silly  figure.  He  was  the  rather 
convinced  to  this  when,  with  a  voice  which  in  the  force 
of  its  accents  corresponded  with  her  commanding  air, 
Mrs.  Montreville  addressed  him  in  English,  which 
savoured  slightly  of  a  Swiss  patois  —  '  You  haave  come 
to  us  very  fast,  sir,  to  say  nothing  at  all.  Are  you  sure 
you  did  not  get  your  tongue  stolen  by  de  way? ' 

*I  thought  I  had  seen  an  old  friend  in  that  lady, 
madam,'  stammered  Hartley,  'but  it  seems  I  am  mis- 
taken.' 

*  The  good  people  do  tell  me  that  you  are  one  Doc- 

360 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

tors  Hartley,  sir.  Now,  my  friend  and  I  do  not  know 
Doctors  Hartley  at  all.' 

*I  have  not  the  presumption  to  pretend  to  your  ac- 
quaintance, madam,  but  him — ' 

Here  Menie  repeated  the  sign  in  such  a  manner  that, 
though  it  was  only  momentary,  Hartley  could  not  mis- 
understand its  purpose ;  he  therefore  changed  the  end  of 
his  sentence,  and  added,  'But  I  have  only  to  make  my 
bow,  and  ask  pardon  for  my  mistake.' 

He  retired  back  accordingly  among  the  company, 
unable  to  quit  the  room,  and  inquiring  at  those  whom 
he  considered  as  the  best  newsmongers  for  such  informa- 
tion as  —  '  Who  is  that  stately-looking  woman,  Mr. 
Butler?' 

'Oh,  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  to  be  sure.' 

'And  who  is  that  pretty  girl  who  sits  beside  her?* 

'Or  rather  behind  her,'  answered  Butler,  a  military 
chaplain.  '  Faith,  I  cannot  say.  Pretty  did  you  call  her?' 
turning  his  opera-glass  that  way.  'Yes,  faith,  she  is 
pretty  —  very  pretty.  Gad,  she  shoots  her  glances  as 
smartly  from  behind  the  old  pile  yonder  as  Teucer  from 
behind  Ajax  Telamon's  shield.' 

'But  who  is  she,  can  you  tell  me?' 

'Some  fair-skinned  speculation  of  old  Montreville's,  I 
suppose,  that  she  has  got  either  to  toady  herself  or  take, 
in  some  of  her  black  friends  with.  Is  it  possible  you  have 
never  heard  of  old  Mother  Montreville?' 

'You  know  I  have  been  so  long  absent  from 
Madras  — ' 

'Well,'  continued  Butler,  'this  lady  is  the  widow  of  a 
Swiss  officer  in  the  French  service,  who,  after  the  sur- 
render of  Pondicherry,  went  off  into  the  interior,  and 

361 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

commenced  soldier  on  his  own  account.  He  got  posses- 
sion of  a  fort,  under  pretence  of  keeping  it  for  some 
simple  rajah  or  other;  assembled  around  him  a  parcel  of 
desperate  vagabonds,  of  every  colour  in  the  rainbow; 
occupied  a  considerable  territory,  of  which  he  raised  the 
duties  in  his  own  name,  and  declared  for  independence. 
But  Hyder  Naig  understood  no  such  interloping  pro- 
ceedings, and  down  he  came,  besieged  the  fort  and  took 
it,  though  some  pretend  it  was  betrayed  to  him  by  this 
very  woman.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  poor  Swiss  was 
found  dead  on  the  ramparts.  Certain  it  is,  she  received 
large  sums  of  money,  under  pretence  of  paying  off  her 
troops,  surrendering  of  hill-forts,  and  Heaven  knows 
what  besides.  She  was  permitted  also  to  retain  some 
insignia  of  royalty;  and,  as  she  was  wont  to  talk  of 
Hyder  as  the  Eastern  Solomon,  she  generally  became 
known  by  the  title  of  Queen  of  Sheba.  She  leaves  her 
court  when  she  pleases,  and  has  been  as  far  as  Fort  St. 
George  before  now.  In  a  word,  she  does  pretty  much  as 
she  likes.  The  great  folks  here  are  civil  to  her,  though 
they  look  on  her  as  little  better  than  a  spy.  As  to  Hyder, 
it  is  supposed  he  has  ensured  her  fidelity  by  borrowing 
the  greater  part  of  her  treasures,  which  prevents  her 
from  daring  to  break  with  him  —  besides  other  causes 
that  smack  of  scandal  of  another  sort.' 

*A  singular  story,'  rephed  Hartley  to  his  companion, 
while  his  heart  dwelt  on  the  question,  How  it  was  pos- 
sible that  the  gentle  and  simple  Menie  Gray  should  be 
in  the  train  of  such  a  character  as  this  adventuress? 

'But  Butler  has  not  told  you  the  best  of  it,'  said 
Major  Mercer,  who  by  this  time  came  round  to  finish 
his  own  story.    *  Your  old  acquaintance,  Mr.  Tresham, 

362 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

or  Mr.  Middlemas,  or  whatever  else  he  chooses  to  be 
called,  has  been  complimented  by  a  report  that  he  stood 
very  high  in  the  good  graces  of  this  same  Boadicea.  He 
certainly  commanded  some  troops  which  she  still  keeps 
on  foot,  and  acted  at  their  head  in  the  Nawaub's  service, 
who  craftily  employed  him  in  whatever  could  render 
him  odious  to  his  countrymen.  The  British  prisoners 
were  entrusted  to  his  charge,  and,  to  judge  by  what  I 
felt  myself,  the  devil  might  take  a  lesson  from  him  in 
severity.' 

'And  was  he  attached  to,  or  connected  with,  this 
woman? ' 

*So  Mrs.  Rumour  told  us  in  our  dungeon.  Poor  Jack 
Ward  had  the  bastinado  for  celebrating  their  merits  in  a 
parody  on  the  playhouse  song, 

Sure  such  a  pair  were  never  seen, 
So  aptly  formed  to  meet  by  nature.' 

Hartley  could  listen  no  longer.  The  fate  of  Menie 
Gray,  connected  with  such  a  man  and  such  a  woman, 
rushed  on  his  fancy  in  the  most  horrid  colours,  and  he 
was  struggUng  through  the  throng  to  get  to  some  place 
where  he  might  collect  his  ideas,  and  consider  what 
could  be  done  for  her  protection,  when  a  black  attendant 
touched  his  arm,  and  at  the  same  time  slipt  a  card  into 
his  hand.  It  bore,  'Miss  Gray,  Mrs.  Montreville's,  at 
the  house  of  Ram  Sing  Cottah,  in  the  Black  Town.'  On 
the  reverse  was  written  with  a  pencil,  'Eight  in  the 
morning.' 

This  intimation  of  her  residence  implied,  of  course,  a 
permission,  nay,  an  invitation,  to  wait  upon  her  at  the 
hour  specified.  Hartley's  heart  beat  at  the  idea  of  seeing 

3^3 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

her  once  more,  and  still  more  highly  at  the  thought  of 
being  able  to  serve  her.  'At  least/  he  thought,  'if  there 
is  danger  near  her,  as  is  much  to  be  suspected,  she  shall 
not  want  a  counsellor,  or,  if  necessary,  a  protector.'  Yet, 
at  the  same  time,  he  felt  the  necessity  of  making  himself 
better  acquainted  with  the  circumstances  of  her  case, 
and  the  persons  with  whom  she  seemed  connected. 
Butler  and  Mercer  had  both  spoke  to  their  disparage- 
ment; but  Butler  was  a  little  of  a  coxcomb,  and  Mercer 
a  great  deal  of  a  gossip.  While  he  was  considering  what 
credit  was  due  to  their  testimony,  he  was  unexpectedly 
encountered  by  a  gentleman  of  his  own  profession,  a  mili- 
tary surgeon,  who  had  had  the  misfortune  to  have  been 
in  Hyder's  prison,  till  set  at  freedom  by  the  late  pacifi- 
cation. Mr.  Esdale,  for  so  he  was  called,  was  generally 
esteemed  a  rising  man,  calm,  steady,  and  dehberate  in 
forming  his  opinions.  Hartley  found  it  easy  to  turn  the 
subject  on  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  by  asking  whether  her 
Majesty  was  not  somewhat  of  an  adventuress. 

*0n  my  word,  I  cannot  say,'  answered  Esdale,  smil- 
ing; 'we  are  all  upon  the  adventure  in  India,  more  or 
less;  but  I  do  not  see  that  the  Begum  Montreville  is 
more  so  than  the  rest.' 

'Why,  that  amazonian  dress  and  manner,*  said 
Hartley,  'savour  a  little  of  the  picaresca.' 

'You  must  not,'  said  Esdale,  'expect  a  woman  who 
has  commanded  soldiers,  and  may  again,  to  dress  and 
look  entirely  like  an  ordinary  person;  but  I  assure  you 
that,  even  at  this  time  of  day,  if  she  wished  to  marry, 
she  might  easily  find  a  respectable  match.' 

'Why,  I  heard  that  she  had  betrayed  her  husband's 
fort  to  Hyder.' 

364 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*  Ay,  that  is  a  specimen  of  Madras  gossip.  The  fact  is, 
that  she  defended  the  place  long  after  her  husband  fell, 
and  afterwards  surrendered  it  by  capitulation.  Hyder, 
who  piques  himself  on  observing  the  rules  of  justice, 
would  not  otherwise  have  admitted  her  to  such  inti- 
macy.' 

'Yes,  I  have  heard,'  rephed  Hartley,  'that  their  in- 
timacy was  rather  of  the  closest.' 

'Another  calumny,  if  you  mean  any  scandal,'  an- 
swered Esdale.  'Hyder  is  too  zealous  a  Mohammedan 
to  entertain  a  Christian  mistress;  and  besides,  to  enjoy 
the  sort  of  rank  which  is  yielded  to  a  woman  in  her 
condition,  she  must  refrain,  in  appearance  at  least,  from 
all  correspondence  in  the  way  of  gallantry.  Just  so 
they  said  that  the  poor  woman  had  a  connexion  with 
poor  Middlemas  of  the regiment.' 

'And  was  that  also  a  false  report?'  said  Hartley,  in 
breathless  anxiety. 

'On  my  soul,  I  beUeve  it  was,'  answered  Mr.  Esdale. 
'They  were  friends,  Europeans  in  an  Indian  court,  and 
therefore  intimate;  but  I  beheve  nothing  more.  By  the 
by,  though,  I  beheve  there  was  some  quarrel  between 
Middlemas,  poor  fellow,  and  you;  yet  I  am  sure  that 
you  will  be  glad  to  hear  there  is  a  chance  of  his  affair 
being  made  up?' 

'Indeed!'  was  again  the  only  word  which  Hartley 
could  utter. 

'Ay,  indeed,'  answered  Esdale.  'The  duel  is  an  old 
story  now;  and  it  must  be  allowed  that  poor  Middle- 
mas, though  he  was  rash  in  that  business,  had  provo- 
cation.' 

'But  his  desertion,  his  accepting  of  command  under 

3^5 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Hyder,  his  treatment  of  our  prisoners  —  how  can  all 
these  be  passed  over? '  replied  Hartley. 

*  Why  it  is  possible  —  I  speak  to  you  as  a  cautious 
man,  and  in  confidence  —  that  he  may  do  us  better 
service  in  Hyder's  capital,  or  Tippoo's  camp,  than  he 
could  have  done  if  serving  with  his  own  regiment.  And 
then,  for  his  treatment  of  prisoners,  I  am  sure  I  can 
speak  nothing  but  good  of  him  in  that  particular.  He 
was  obliged  to  take  the  office,  because  those  that  serve 
Hyder  Naig  must  do  or  die.  But  he  told  me  himself  — 
and  I  believe  him  —  that  he  accepted  the  office  chiefly 
because,  while  he  made  a  great  bullying  at  us  before  the 
black  fellows,  he  could  privately  be  of  assistance  to  us. 
Some  fools  could  not  understand  this,  and  answered  him 
with  abuse  and  lampoons ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  punish 
them,  to  avoid  suspicion.  Yes  —  yes,  I  and  others  can 
prove  he  was  willing  to  be  kind,  if  men  would  give  him 
leave.  I  hope  to  thank  him  at  Madras  one  day  soon. 
All  this  in  confidence.   Good  morrow  to  you.' 

Distracted  by  the  contradictory  intelligence  he  had 
received.  Hartley  went  next  to  question  old  Captain 
Capstern,  the  captain  of  the  Indiaman,  whom  he  had 
observed  in  attendance  upon  the  Begum  Montreville. 
On  inquiring  after  that  commander's  female  passengers, 
he  heard  a  pretty  long  catalogue  of  names,  in  which  that 
he  was  so  much  interested  in  did  not  occur.  On  closer 
inquiry,  Capstern  recollected  that  Menie  Gray,  a  young 
Scotchwoman,  had  come  out  under  charge  of  Mrs. 
Duffer,  the  master's  wife.  *A  good,  decent  girl,'  Cap- 
stern said,  'and  kept  the  mates  and  guinea-pigs  at  a 
respectable  distance.  She  came  out,'  he  believed,  'to  be 
a  sort  of  female  companion,  or  upper  servant,  in  Ma- 

366 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

dame  Montreville's  family.  Snug  birth  enough,'  he 
concluded,  '  if  she  can  find  the  length  of  the  old  girl's 
foot.' 

This  was  all  that  could  be  made  of  Capstern ;  so 
Hartley  was  compelled  to  remain  in  a  state  of  uncer- 
tainty until  the  next  morning,  when  an  explanation 
might  be  expected  with  Menie  Gray  in  person. 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  exact  hour  assigned  found  Hartley  at  the  door  of 
the  rich  native  merchant,  who,  having  some  reasons  for 
wishing  to  oblige  the  Begum  Montreville,  had  relin- 
quished, for  her  accommodation  and  that  of  her  numer- 
ous retinue,  almost  the  whole  of  his  large  and  sumptuous 
residence  in  the  Black  Town  of  Madras,  as  that  district 
of  the  city  is  called  which  the  natives  occupy. 

A  domestic,  at  the  first  summons,  ushered  the  visitor 
into  an  apartment,  where  he  expected  to  be  joined  by 
Miss  Gray.  The  room  opened  on  one  side  into  a  small 
garden  or  parterre,  filled  with  the  brilliant-coloured 
flowers  of  Eastern  climates,  in  the  midst  of  which  the 
waters  of  a  fountain  rose  upwards  in  a  sparkling  jet,  and 
fell  back  again  into  a  white  marble  cistern. 

A  thousand  dizzy  recollections  thronged  on  the  mind 
of  Hartley,  whose  early  feelings  towards  the  companion 
of  his  youth,  if  they  had  slumbered  during  distance  and 
the  various  casualties  of  a  busy  life,  were  revived  when  he 
found  himself  placed  so  near  her,  and  in  circumstances 
which  interested  from  their  unexpected  occurrence  and 
mysterious  character.  A  step  was  heard,  the  door 
opened,  a  female  appeared;  but  it  was  the  portly  form  of 
Madame  de  Montreville. 

'What  do  you  please  to  want,  sir?'  said  the  lady;  'that 
is,  if  you  have  found  your  tongue  this  morning,  which 
you  had  lost  yesterday.' 

'I  proposed  myself  the  honour  of  waiting  upon  the 

368 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

young  person  whom  I  saw  in  your  Excellency's  company 
yesterday  morning,'  answered  Hartley,  with  assumed 
respect.  *  I  have  had  long  the  honour  of  being  known  to 
her  in  Europe,  and  I  desire  to  offer  my  services  to  her  in 
India.' 

*  Much  obliged  —  much  obliged ;  but  Miss  Gray  is 
gone  out,  and  does  not  return  for  one  or  two  days.  You 
may  leave  your  commands  with  me.' 

'Pardon  me,  madam,'  replied  Hartley;  'but  I  have 
some  reason  to  hope  you  may  be  mistaken  in  this  matter. 
And  here  comes  the  lady  herself.' 

'How  is  this,  my  dear?'  said  Mrs.  Montreville,  with 
imruflfled  front,  to  Menie,  as  she  entered;  'are  you  not 
gone  out  for  two  or  three  days,  as  I  tell  this  gentleman? 
Mais  c'est  egal:  it  is  all  one  thing.  You  will  say  "How 
d'  ye  do,"  and  "  Good-bye,"  to  monsieur,  who  is  so  polite 
as  to  come  to  ask  after  our  healths,  and  as  he  sees  us 
both  very  well,  he  will  go  away  home  again.' 

'I  believe,  madam,'  said  Miss  Gray,  with  appearance 
of  effort,  '  that  I  must  speak  with  this  gentleman  for  a 
few  minutes  in  private,  if  you  will  permit  us.' 

'That  is  to  say,  get  you  gone?  But  I  do  not  allow 
that:  I  do  not  hke  private  conversation  between  young 
man  and  pretty  young  woman;  cela  n'est  pas  honnete.  It 
cannot  be  in  my  house.' 

'It  may  be  out  of  it,  then,  madam,'  answered  Miss 
Gray,  not  pettishly  nor  pertly,  but  with  the  utmost  sim- 
plicity. 'Mr.  Hartley,  will  you  step  into  that  garden? 
And  you,  madam,  may  observe  us  from  the  window,  if  it 
be  the  fashion  of  the  country  to  watch  so  closely.' 

As  she  spoke  this,  she  stepped  through  a  lattice-door 
into  the  garden,  and  with  an  air  so  simple  that  she 

44  369 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

seemed  as  if  she  wished  to  comply  with  her  patroness's 
ideas  of  decorum,  though  they  appeared  strange  to  her. 
The  Queen  of  Sheba,  notwithstanding  her  natural  assur- 
ance, was  disconcerted  by  the  composure  of  Miss  Gray's 
manner,  and  left  the  room,  apparently  in  displeasure. 
Menie  turned  back  to  the  door  which  opened  into  the 
garden,  and  said,  in  the  same  manner  as  before,  but  with 
less  nonchalance  — 

'I  am  sure  I  would  not  willingly  break  through  the 
rules  of  a  foreign  country;  but  I  cannot  refuse  myself 
the  pleasure  of  speaking  to  so  old  a  friend,  if,  indeed,' 
she  added,  pausing  and  looking  at  Hartley,  who  was 
much  embarrassed,  'it  be  as  much  pleasure  to  Mr. 
Hartley  as  it  is  to  me.' 

*It  would  have  been,'  said  Hartley,  scarce  knowing 
what  he  said  —  *  it  must  be  a  pleasure  to  me  in  every 
circumstance.  But  this  extraordinary  meeting  —  but 
your  father  — ' 

Menie  Gray's  handkerchief  was  at  her  eyes.  *He  is 
gone,  Mr.  Hartley.  After  he  was  left  unassisted,  his 
toilsome  business  became  too  much  for  him ;  he  caught  a 
cold,  which  hung  about  him,  as  you  know  he  was  the 
last  to  attend  to  his  own  complaints,  till  it  assumed  a 
dangerous,  and,  finally,  a  fatal,  character.  I  distress 
you,  Mr.  Hartley,  but  it  becomes  you  well  to  be  affected. 
My  father  loved  you  dearly.' 

*0h,  Miss  Gray!'  said  Hartley,  'it  should  not  have 
been  thus  with  my  excellent  friend  at  the  close  of  his 
useful  and  virtuous  life.  Alas,  wherefore — the  question 
bursts  from  me  involuntarily  —  wherefore  could  you 
not  have  complied  with  his  wishes?  Wherefore  — ' 

*Do  not  ask  me,'  said  she,  stopping  the  question 

370 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

which  was  on  his  lips;  'we  are  not  the  formers  of  our  own 
destiny.  It  is  painful  to  talk  on  such  a  subject;  but  for 
once,  and  for  ever,  let  me  tell  you  that  I  should  have 
done  Mr.  Hartley  wrong  if,  even  to  secure  his  assistance 
to  my  father,  I  had  accepted  his  hand,  while  my  way- 
ward affections  did  not  accompany  the  act.' 

*  But  wherefore  do  I  see  you  here,  Menie?  Forgive  me, 
Miss  Gray,  my  tongue  as  well  as  my  heart  turns  back 
to  long-forgotten  scenes.  But  why  here?  Why  with  this 
woman? ' 

'She  is  not,  indeed,  everything  that  I  expected,' 
answered  Menie;  'but  I  must  not  be  prejudiced  by  for- 
eign manners,  after  the  step  I  have  taken.  She  is,  be- 
sides, attentive,  and  generous  in  her  way,  and  I  shall 
soon'  —  she  paused  a  moment,  and  then  added,  'be 
under  better  protection.' 

'That  of  Richard  Middlemas?'  said  Hartley,  with  a 
faltering  voice. 

'I  ought  not,  perhaps,  to  answer  the  question,'  said 
Menie;  'but  I  am  a  bad  dissembler,  and  those  whom  I 
trust  I  trust  entirely.  You  have  guessed  right,  Mr. 
Hartley,'  she  added,  colouring  a  good  deal,  'I  have  come 
hither  to  unite  my  fate  to  that  of  your  old  comrade.' 

'It  is,  then,  just  as  I  feared!'  exclaimed  Hartley. 

'And  why  should  Mr.  Hartley  fear? '  said  Menie  Gray. 
'I  used  to  think  you  too  generous;  surely  the  quarrel 
which  occurred  long  since  ought  not  to  perpetuate  sus- 
picion and  resentment.' 

'At  least,  if  the  feehng  of  resentment  remained  in  my 
own  bosom,  it  would  be  the  last  I  should  intrude  upon 
you.  Miss  Gray,'  answered  Hartley.  'But  it  is  for  you, 
and  for  you  alone,  that  I  am  watchful.  This  person  — 

371 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

this  gentleman  whom  you  mean  to  entrust  with  your 
happiness  —  do  you  know  where  he  is,  and  in  what 
service?' 

'I  know  both,  more  distinctly  perhaps  than  Mr. 
Hartley  can  do.  Mr.  Middlemas  has  erred  greatly,  and 
has  been  severely  punished.  But  it  was  not  in  the  time 
of  his  exile  and  sorrow  that  she  who  has  plighted  her 
faith  to  him  should,  with  the  flattering  world,  turn  her 
back  upon  him.  Besides,  you  have,  doubtless,  not 
heard  of  his  hopes  of  being  restored  to  his  country  and 
his  rank? ' 

*  I  have,'  answered  Hartley,  thrown  off  his  guard;  'but 
I  see  not  how  he  can  deserve  it,  otherwise  than  by  be- 
coming a  traitor  to  his  new  master,  and  thus  rendering 
himself  even  more  unworthy  of  confidence  than  I  hold 
him  to  be  at  this  moment.' 

'It  is  well  that  he  hears  you  not,'  answered  Menie 
Gray,  resenting,  with  natural  feehng,  the  imputation  on 
her  lover.  Then  instantly  softening  her  tone,  she  added, 
'My  voice  ought  not  to  aggravate,  but  to  soothe,  your 
quarrel.  Mr.  Hartley,  I  phght  my  word  to  you  that  you 
do  Richard  wrong.' 

She  said  these  words  with  affecting  calmness,  sup- 
pressing all  appearance  of  that  displeasure  of  which  she 
was  evidently  sensible,  upon  this  depreciation  of  a  be- 
loved object. 

Hartley  compelled  himself  to  answer  in  the  same 
strain. 

'Miss  Gray,'  he  said,  'your  actions  and  motives  will 
always  be  those  of  an  angel;  but  let  me  entreat  you  to 
view  this  most  important  matter  with  the  eyes  of  worldly 
wisdom  and  prudence.  Have  you  well  weighed  the  risks 

372 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

attending  the  course  which  you  are  taking  in  favour  of  a 
man,  who  —  nay,  I  will  not  again  offend  you  —  who 
may,  I  hope,  deserve  your  favour? ' 

'When  I  wished  to  see  you  in  this  manner,  Mr.  Hart- 
ley, and  decHned  a  communication  in  public,  where  we 
could  have  had  less  freedom  of  conversation,  it  was  with 
the  view  of  telling  you  everything.  Some  pain  I  thought 
old  recollections  might  give,  but  I  trusted  it  would  be 
momentary;  and,  as  I  desire  to  retain  your  friendship, 
it  is  proper  I  should  show  that  I  still  deserve  it.  I  must 
then  first  tell  you  my  situation  after  my  father's  death. 
In  the  world's  opinion,  we  were  always  poor,  you  know; 
but  in  the  proper  sense  I  had  not  known  what  real  pov- 
erty was  until  I  was  placed  in  dependence  upon  a  distant 
relation  of  my  poor  father,  who  made  our  relationship  a 
reason  for  casting  upon  me  all  the  drudgery  of  her  house- 
hold, while  she  would  not  allow  that  it  gave  me  a  claim 
to  countenance,  kindness,  or  anything  but  the  relief  of 
my  most  pressing  wants.  In  these  circumstances  I  re- 
ceived from  Mr.  Middlemas  a  letter,  in  which  he  related 
his  fatal  duel  and  its  consequence.  He  had  not  dared  to 
write  to  me  to  share  his  misery.  Now,  when  he  was  in  a 
lucrative  situation,  under  the  patronage  of  a  powerful 
prince,  whose  wisdom  knew  how  to  prize  and  protect 
such  Europeans  as  entered  his  service  —  now,  when  he 
had  every  prospect  of  rendering  our  government  such 
essential  service  by  his  interest  with  Hyder  Ali,  and 
might  eventually  nourish  hopes  of  being  permitted  to 
return  and  stand  his  trial  for  the  death  of  his  command- 
ing officer  —  now,  he  pressed  me  to  come  to  India,  and 
share  his  reviving  fortunes,  by  accomplishing  the  engage- 
ment into  which  we  had  long  ago  entered.   A  consider- 

373 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

able  sum  of  money  accompanied  this  letter.  Mrs.  Duffer 
was  pointed  out  as  a  respectable  woman,  who  would  pro- 
tect me  during  the  passage.  Mrs.  Montreville,  a  lady  of 
rank,  having  large  possessions  and  high  interest  in  the 
Mysore,  would  receive  me  on  my  arrival  at  Fort  St. 
George,  and  conduct  me  safely  to  the  dominions  of  Hy- 
der.  It  was  further  recommended  that,  considering  the 
peculiar  situation  of  Mr.  Middlemas,  his  name  should 
be  concealed  in  the  transaction,  and  that  the  ostensible 
cause  of  my  voyage  should  be  to  fill  an  office  in  that  lady's 
family.  What  was  I  to  do?  My  duty  to  my  poor  father 
was  ended,  and  my  other  friends  considered  the  proposal 
as  too  advantageous  to  be  rejected.  The  references 
given,  the  sum  of  money  lodged,  were  considered  as  put- 
ting all  scruples  out  of  the  question,  and  my  immediate 
protectress  and  kinswoman  was  so  earnest  that  I  should 
accept  of  the  offer  made  me,  as  to  intimate  that  she 
would  not  encourage  me  to  stand  in  my  own  light  by 
continuing  to  give  me  shelter  and  food  —  she  gave  me 
little  more  —  if  I  was  foolish  enough  to  refuse  compli- 
ance.' 

'Sordid  wretch,'  said  Hartley,  'how  little  did  she 
deserve  such  a  charge ! ' 

'Let  me  speak  a  proud  word,  Mr.  Hartley,  and  then 
you  will  not  perhaps  blame  my  relations  so  much.  All 
their  persuasions,  and  even  their  threats,  would  have 
failed  in  inducing  me  to  take  a  step  which  has  an  appear- 
ance, at  least,  to  which  I  found  it  difficult  to  reconcile 
myself.  But  I  had  loved  Middlemas  —  I  love  him  still, 
why  should  I  deny  it?  —  and  I  have  not  hesitated  to 
trust  him.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  small  still  voice  which 
reminded  me  of  my  engagements,  I  had  maintained  more 

374 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

stubbornly  the  pride  of  womanhood,  and,  as  you  would 
perhaps  have  recommended,  I  might  have  expected,  at 
least,  that  my  lover  should  have  come  to  Britain  in  per- 
son, and  might  have  had  the  vanity  to  think,'  she  added, 
smiling  faintly, '  that,  if  I  were  worth  having,  I  was  worth 
fetching,' 

'Yet  now  —  even  now,'  answered  Hartley,  *be  just  to 
yourself  while  you  are  generous  to  your  lover.  Nay,  do 
not  look  angrily,  but  hear  me.  I  doubt  the  propriety  of 
your  being  under  the  charge  of  this  unsexed  woman, 
who  can  no  longer  be  termed  a  European.  I  have  interest 
enough  with  females  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  settle- 
ment —  this  climate  is  that  of  generosity  and  hospitality 
—  there  is  not  one  of  them  who,  knowing  your  character 
and  history,  will  not  desire  to  have  you  in  her  society, 
and  under  her  protection,  until  your  lover  shall  be  able 
to  vindicate  his  title  to  your  hand  in  the  face  of  the 
world.  I  myself  will  be  no  cause  of  suspicion  to  him, 
or  of  inconvenience  to  you,  Menie.  Let  me  but  have 
your  consent  to  the  arrangement  I  propose,  and  the 
same  moment  that  sees  you  under  honourable  and 
imsuspected  protection  I  will  leave  Madras,  not  to 
return  till  your  destiny  is  in  one  way  or  other  per- 
manently fixed.' 

'No,  Hartley,'  said  Miss  Gray.  'It  may  —  it  must  be, 
friendly  in  you  thus  to  advise  me;  but  it  would  be  most 
base  in  me  to  advance  my  own  affairs  at  the  expense  of 
your  prospects.  Besides,  what  would  tliis  be  but  taking 
the  chance  of  contingencies,  with  the  view  of  sharing 
poor  Middlemas's  fortunes  should  they  prove  prosper- 
ous, and  casting  him  off  should  they  be  otherwise?  Tell 
me  only,  do  you,  of  your  own  positive  knowledge,  aver 

375 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

that  you  consider  this  woman  as  an  unworthy  and  unfit 
protectress  for  so  young  a  person  as  I  am? ' 

'  Of  my  own  knowledge  I  can  say  nothing  —  nay,  I 
must  own  that  reports  differ  even  concerning  Mrs.  Mon- 
treville's  character.  But  surely  the  mere  suspicion  — ' 

'  The  mere  suspicion,  Mr.  Hartley,  can  have  no  weight 
with  me,  considering  that  I  can  oppose  to  it  the  testi- 
mony of  the  man  with  whom  I  am  willing  to  share  my 
future  fortunes.  You  acknowledge  the  question  is  but 
doubtful,  and  should  not  the  assertion  of  him  of  whom  I 
think  so  highly  decide  my  belief  in  a  doubtful  matter? 
What,  indeed,  must  he  be,  should  this  Madame  Mon- 
treville  be  other  than  he  represented  her? ' 

'What  must  he  be,  indeed!'  thought  Hartley  inter- 
nally, but  his  lips  uttered  not  the  words.  He  looked  down 
in  a  deep  reverie,  and  at  length  started  from  it  at  the 
words  of  Miss  Gray. 

*It  is  time  to  remind  you,  Mr.  Hartley,  that  we  must 
needs  part.   God  bless  and  preserve  you.' 

'And  you,  dearest  Menie,'  exclaimed  Hartley,  as  he 
sunk  on  one  knee,  and  pressed  to  his  lips  the  hand  which 
she  held  out  to  him, '  God  bless  you !  —  you  must  deserve 
blessing.  God  protect  you !  —  you  must  need  protection. 
Oh,  should  things  prove  different  from  what  you  hope, 
send  for  me  instantly,  and  if  man  can  aid  you,  Adam 
Hartley  will.' 

He  placed  in  her  hand  a  card  containing  his  address. 
He  then  rushed  from  the  apartment.  In  the  hall  he  met 
the  lady  of  the  mansion,  who  made  him  a  haughty  rever- 
ence in  token  of  adieu,  while  a  native  servant  of  the 
upper  class,  by  whom  she  was  attended,  made  a  low  and 
reverential  salam. 

376 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Hartley  hastened  from  the  Black  Town,  more  satisfied 
than  before  that  some  deceit  was  about  to  be  practised 
towards  Menie  Gray,  more  determined  than  ever  to  exert 
himself  for  her  preservation;  yet  more  completely  per- 
plexed, when  he  began  to  consider  the  doubtful  charac- 
ter of  the  danger  to  which  she  might  be  exposed,  and 
the  scanty  means  of  protection  which  he  had  to  oppose 
to  it. 


CHAPTER  XII 

As  Hartley  left  the  apartment  in  the  house  of  Ram  Sing 
Cottah  by  one  mode  of  exit,  Miss  Gray  retired  by  an- 
other to  an  apartment  destined  for  her  private  use.  She, 
too,  had  reason  for  secret  and  anxious  reflection,  since 
all  her  love  for  Middlemas,  and  her  full  confidence  in  his 
honour,  could  not  entirely  conquer  her  doubts  concerning 
the  character  of  the  person  whom  he  had  chosen  for  her 
temporary  protectress.  And  yet  she  could  not  rest  these 
doubts  upon  anything  distinctly  conclusive :  it  was  rather 
a  dislike  of  her  patroness's  general  manners,  and  a  dis- 
gust at  her  masculine  notions  and  expressions,  that  dis- 
pleased her,  than  anything  else. 

Meantime,  Madame  Montreville,  followed  by  her 
black  domestic,  entered  the  apartment  where  Hartley 
and  Menie  had  just  parted.  It  appeared  from  the  con- 
versation which  follows  that  they  had  from  some  place  of 
concealment  overheard  the  dialogue  we  have  narrated 
in  the  former  chapter. 

*It  is  good  luck,  Sadoc,'  said  the  lady,  'that  there  is 
in  this  world  the  great  fool.' 

'And  the  great  villain,'  answered  the  Sadoc,  in  good 
English,  but  in  a  most  sullen  tone. 

'This  woman,  now,'  continued  the  lady,  'is  what  in 
Frangistan  you  call  an  angel.' 

'Ay,  and  I  have  seen  those  in  Hindostan  you  may  well 
call  devil.' 

'I  am  sure  that  this  —  how  you  call  him  —  Hartley 

378 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

is  a  meddling  devil.  For  what  has  he  to  do?  She  will  not 
have  any  of  him.  What  is  his  business  who  has  her?  I 
wish  we  were  well  up  the  Ghauts  again,  my  dear  Sadoc' 

'For  my  part/  answered  the  slave,  'I  am  half  deter- 
mined never  to  ascend  the  Ghauts  more.  Hark  you, 
Adela,  I  begin  to  sicken  of  the  plan  we  have  laid.  This 
creature's  confiding  purity  —  call  her  angel  or  woman, 
as  you  will  —  makes  my  practices  appear  too  vile,  even 
in  my  own  eyes.  I  feel  myself  unfit  to  be  your  compan- 
ion farther  in  the  daring  paths  which  you  pursue.  Let 
us  part,  and  part  friends.' 

'Amen,  coward.  But  the  woman  remains  with  me,* 
answered  the  Queen  of  Sheba.^ 

'  With  thee ! '  replied  the  seeming  black  —  '  never.  No, 
Adela.  She  is  under  the  shadow  of  the  British  flag,  and 
she  shall  experience  its  protection.' 

'Yes,  and  what  protection  will  it  afford  to  you  your- 
self?' retorted  the  amazon.  'What  if  I  should  clap  my 
hands,  and  command  a  score  of  my  black  servants  to 
bind  you  like  a  sheep,  and  then  send  word  to  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Presidency  that  one  Richard  Middlemas, 
who  had  been  guilty  of  mutiny,  murder,  desertion,  and 
serving  of  the  enemy  against  his  countrymen,  is  here,  at 
Ram  Sing  Cottah's  house,  in  the  disguise  of  a  black  serv- 
ant? '  Middlemas  covered  his  face  with  his  hands,  while 
Madame  Montreville  proceeded  to  load  him  with  re- 
proaches. 'Yes,'  she  said,  'slave,  and  son  of  a  slave! 
Since  you  wear  the  dress  of  my  household,  you  shall  obey 
me  as  fully  as  the  rest  of  them,  otherwise  —  whips,  fet- 
ters —  the  scaffold,  renegade  —  the  gallows,  murderer! 

1  In  order  to  maintain  uninjured  the  tone  of  passion  throughout  this 
dialogue,  it  has  been  judged  expedient  to  discard,  in  the  language  of  the 
Begum,  the  paiois  of  Madame  Montreville. 

379 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Dost  thou  dare  to  reflect  on  the  abyss  of  misery  from 
which  I  raised  thee,  to  share  my  wealth  and  my  affec- 
tions? Dost  thou  not  remember  that  the  picture  of  this 
pale,  cold,  unimpassioned  girl  was  then  so  indifferent  to 
thee  that  thou  didst  sacrifice  it  as  a  tribute  due  to  the 
benevolence  of  her  who  relieved  thee,  to  the  affection 
of  her  who,  wretch  as  thou  art,  condescended  to  love 
thee?' 

'Yes,  fell  woman,'  answered  Middlemas,  'but  was  it  I 
who  encouraged  the  young  tyrant's  outrageous  passion 
for  a  portrait,  or  who  formed  the  abominable  plan  of 
placing  the  original  within  his  power? ' 

*No,  for  to  do  so  required  brain  and  wit.  But  it 
was  thine,  flimsy  villain,  to  execute  the  device  which 
a  bolder  genius  planned:  it  was  thine  to  entice  the 
woman  to  this  foreign  shore,  under  pretence  of  a  love 
which,  on  thy  part,  cold-blooded  miscreant,  never  had 
existed.' 

'Peace,  screech-owl!'  answered  Middlemas,  'nor  drive 
me  to  such  madness  as  may  lead  me  to  forget  thou  art  a 
woman.' 

'A  woman,  dastard!  Is  this  thy  pretext  for  sparing 
me?  What,  then,  art  thou,  who  tremblest  at  a  woman's 
looks,  a  woman's  words?  I  am  a  woman,  renegade,  but 
one  who  wears  a  dagger,  and  despises  alike  thy  strength 
and  thy  courage.  I  am  a  woman  who  has  looked  on  more 
dying  men  than  thou  hast  killed  deer  and  antelopes. 
Thou  must  traffic  for  greatness?  Thou  hast  thrust  thy- 
self like  a  five-years'  child  into  the  rough  sports  of  men, 
and  wilt  only  be  borne  down  and  crushed  for  thy  pains. 
Thou  wilt  be  a  double  traitor,  forsooth :  betray  thy  be- 
trothed to  the  prince,  in  order  to  obtain  the  means  of 

380 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

betraying  the  prince  to  the  English,  and  thus  gain  thy 
pardon  from  thy  countrymen.  But  me  thou  shalt  not 
betray.  I  will  not  be  made  the  tool  of  thy  ambition.  I 
will  not  give  thee  the  aid  of  my  treasures  and  my  soldiers, 
to  be  sacrificed  at  last  to  this  Northern  icicle.  No,  I  will 
watch  thee  as  the  fiend  watches  the  wizard.  Show  but  a 
symptom  of  betraying  me  while  we  are  here,  and  I  de- 
nounce thee  to  the  English,  who  might  pardon  the  suc- 
cessful villain,  but  not  him  who  can  only  offer  prayers  for 
his  life  in  place  of  useful  services.  Let  me  see  thee  flinch 
when  we  are  beyond  the  Ghauts,  and  the  Nawaub  shall 
know  thy  intrigues  with  the  Nizam  and  the  Mahrattas, 
and  thy  resolution  to  deliver  up  Bangalore  to  the  Eng- 
lish, when  the  imprudence  of  Tippoo  shall  have  made 
thee  killedar.  Go  where  thou  wilt,  slave,  thou  shalt  find 
me  thy  witness.' 

'And  a  fair,  though  an  unkind,  one,'  said  the  counter- 
feit Sadoc,  suddenly  changing  his  tone  to  an  affectation 
of  tenderness.  *It  is  true  I  pity  this  unhappy  woman  — 
true  I  would  save  her  if  I  could ;  but  most  unjust  to  sup- 
pose I  would  in  any  circumstances  prefer  her  to  my 
nourjehan,  my  light  of  the  world,  my  mootee  mahul,  my 
pearl  of  the  palace  — ' 

*A11  false  coin  and  empty  compliment,'  said  the 
Begum.  *  Let  me  hear,  in  two  brief  words,  that  you  leave 
this  woman  to  my  disposal.' 

'  But  not  to  be  interred  alive  under  your  seat,  like  the 
Circassian  of  whom  you  were  jealous,'  said  Middlemas, 
shuddering. 

'No,  fool;  her  lot  shall  not  be  worse  than  that  of  being 
the  favourite  of  a  prince.  Hast  thou,  fugitive  and  crimi- 
nal as  thou  art,  a  better  fate  to  offer  her? ' 

381 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

*But,'  replied  Middlemas,  blushing  even  through  his 
base  disgmse  at  the  consciousness  of  his  abject  conduct, 
'I  will  have  no  force  on  her  inclinations.' 

'  Such  truce  she  shall  have  as  the  laws  of  the  zenana 
allow,'  replied  the  female  tyrant.  '  A  week  is  long  enough 
for  her  to  determine  whether  she  will  be  the  willing  mis- 
tress of  a  princely  and  generous  lover.' 

'Ay,'  said  Richard,  'and  before  that  week  expires  — ' 
He  stopped  short. 

'  What  will  happen  before  the  week  expires? '  said  the 
Begum  Montreville. 

'No  matter  —  nothing  of  consequence.  I  leave  the 
woman's  fate  with  you.' 

"T  is  well;  we  march  to-night  on  our  return,  so  soon 
as  the  moon  rises.  Give  orders  to  our  retinue.' 

'To  hear  is  to  obey,'  replied  the  seeming  slave,  and 
left  the  apartment. 

The  eyes  of  the  Begum  remained  fixed  on  the  door 
through  which  he  had  passed.  'Villain  —  double-dyed 
villain ! '  she  said,  '  I  see  thy  drift :  thou  wouldst  betray 
Tippoo,  in  policy  ahke  and  in  love.  But  me  thou  canst 
not  betray.  Ho,  there,  who  waits?  Let  a  trusty  messen- 
ger be  ready  to  set  off  instantly  with  letters,  which  I  will 
presently  make  ready.  His  departure  must  be  a  secret 
to  every  one.  And  now  shall  this  pale  phantom  soon 
know  her  destiny,  and  learn  what  it  is  to  have  rivalled 
Adela  Montreville.' 

While  the  amazonian  princess  meditated  plans  of 
vengeance  against  her  innocent  rival  and  the  guilty 
lover,  the  latter  plotted  as  deeply  for  his  own  purposes. 
He  had  waited  until  such  brief  twilight  as  India  enjoys 
rendered  his  disguise  complete,  then  set  out  in  haste  for 

382 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

the  part  of  Madras  inhabited  by  the  Europeans,  or,  as  it 
is  termed,  Fort  St.  George. 

*I  will  save  her  yet,'  he  said:  'ere  Tippoo  can  seize  his 
prize,  we  will  raise  around  his  ears  a  storm  which  would 
drive  the  God  of  War  from  the  arms  of  the  Goddess  of 
Beauty.  The  trap  shall  close  its  fangs  upon  this  Indian 
tiger  ere  he  has  time  to  devour  the  bait  which  enticed 
him  into  the  snare.' 

While  Middlemas  cherished  these  hopes,  he  approached 
the  residency.  The  sentinel  on  duty  stopped  him,  as  of 
course;  but  he  was  in  possession  of  the  countersign,  and 
entered  without  opposition.  He  rounded  the  building  in 
which  the  President  of  the  Council  resided  —  an  able 
and  active,  but  unconscientious  man,  who  neither  in  his 
own  affairs  nor  in  those  of  the  Company  was  supposed 
to  embarrass  himself  much  about  the  means  which  he 
used  to  attain  his  object.  A  tap  at  a  small  postern-gate 
was  answered  by  a  black  slave,  who  admitted  Middle- 
mas to  that  necessary  appurtenance  of  every  govern- 
ment, a  back  stair,  which,  in  its  turn,  conducted  him  to 
the  office  of  the  Bramin  Paupiah,  the  dubash,  or  steward, 
of  the  great  man,  and  by  whose  means  chiefly  he  com- 
municated with  the  native  courts,  and  carried  on  many 
mysterious  intrigues,  which  he  did  not  communicate  to 
his  brethren  at  the  council-board. 

It  is  perhaps  justice  to  the  guilty  and  unhappy  Middle- 
mas to  suppose  that,  if  the  agency  of  a  British  officer  had 
been  employed,  he  might  have  been  induced  to  throw 
himself  on  his  mercy,  might  have  explained  the  whole  of 
his  nefarious  bargain  with  Tippoo,  and,  renouncing  his 
guilty  projects  of  ambition,  might  have  turned  his  whole 
thoughts  upon  saving  Menie  Gray,  ere  she  was  trans- 

383 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ported  beyond  the  reach  of  British  protection.  But  the 
thin,  dusky  form  which  stood  before  him,  wrapped  in 
robes  of  muslin  embroidered  with  gold,  was  that  of 
Paupiah,  known  as  a  master-counsellor  of  dark  projects, 
an  Oriental  Machiavel,  whose  premature  wrinkles  were 
the  result  of  many  an  intrigue,  in  which  the  existence  of 
the  poor,  the  happiness  of  the  rich,  the  honour  of  men, 
and  the  chastity  of  women  had  been  sacrificed  without 
scruple  to  attain  some  private  or  political  advantage. 
He  did  not  even  inquire  by  what  means  the  renegade 
Briton  proposed  to  acquire  that  influence  with  Tippoo 
which  might  enable  him  to  betray  him:  he  only  desired 
to  be  assured  that  the  fact  was  real. 

'You  speak  at  the  risk  of  your  head  if  you  deceive 
Paupiah,  or  make  Paupiah  the  means  of  deceiving  his 
master.  I  know,  so  does  all  Madras,  that  the  Nawaub 
has  placed  his  young  son,  Tippoo,  as  vice-regent  of  his 
newly  conquered  territory  of  Bangalore,  which  Hyder 
hath  lately  added  to  his  dominions.  But  that  Tippoo 
should  bestow  the  government  of  that  important  place 
on  an  apostate  Feringi  seems  more  doubtful.' 

'Tippoo  is  young,'  answered  Middlemas,  'and  to 
youth  the  temptation  of  the  passions  is  what  a  lily  on  the 
surface  of  the  lake  is  to  childhood:  they  will  risk  Ufe  to 
reach  it,  though,  when  obtained,  it  is  of  little  value. 
Tippoo  has  the  cunning  of  his  father  and  his  military 
talents,  but  he  lacks  his  cautious  wisdom.' 

'Thou  speakest  truth;  but  when  thou  art  governor  of 
Bangalore,  hast  thou  forces  to  hold  the  place  till  thou 
art  relieved  by  the  Mahrattas  or  by  the  British?' 

'  Doubt  it  not :  the  soldiers  of  the  Begum  Mootee  Ma- 
hul,  whom  the  Europeans  call  Montreville,  are  less  hers 

384 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

than  mine.  I  am  myself  her  bukshee  (general),  and  her 
sirdars  are  at  my  devotion.  With  these  I  could  keep 
Bangalore  for  two  months,  and  the  British  army  may 
be  before  it  in  a  week.  What  do  you  risk  by  advanc- 
ing General  Smith's  army  nearer  to  the  frontier? ' 

*  We  risk  a  settled  peace  with  Hyder,'  answered  Pau- 
piah,  'for  which  he  has  made  advantageous  offers.  Yet  I 
say  not  but  thy  plan  may  be  most  advantageous.  Thou 
sayest  Tippoo's  treasures  are  in  the  fort? ' 

*  His  treasures  and  his  zenana ;  I  may  even  be  able  to 
secure  his  person.' 

'That  were  a  goodly  pledge,'  answered  the  Hindoo 
minister. 

'And  you  consent  that  the  treasures  shall  be  divided 
to  the  last  rupee,  as  in  this  scroll?' 

'The  share  of  Paupiah's  master  is  too  small,'  said  the 
Bramin;  'and  the  name  of  Paupiah  is  unnoticed.' 

'The  share  of  the  Begum  may  be  divided  between 
Paupiah  and  his  master,'  answered  Middlemas. 

'But  the  Begum  will  expect  her  proportion,'  replied 
Paupiah. 

'Let  me  alone  to  deal  with  her,'  said  Middlemas. 
'Before  the  blow  is  struck,  she  shall  not  know  of  our 
private  treaty,  and  afterwards  her  disappointment  will 
be  of  little  consequence.  And  now,  remember  my  stip- 
ulations —  my  rank  to  be  restored,  my  full  pardon  to  be 
granted.' 

'Ay,'  repHed  Paupiah,  cautiously,  'should  you  suc- 
ceed. But  were  you  to  betray  what  has  here  passed,  I 
will  find  the  dagger  of  a  lootie  which  shall  reach  thee, 
wert  thou  sheltered  under  the  folds  of  the  Nawaub's 
garment.  In  the  meantime,  take  this  missive,  and  when 

44  385 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

you  are  in  possession  of  Bangalore  despatch  it  to  General 
Smith,  whose  division  shall  have  orders  to  approach  as 
near  the  frontiers  of  Mysore  as  may  be,  without  causing 
suspicion.' 

Thus  parted  this  worthy  pair,  Paupiah  to  report  to 
his  principal  the  progress  of  these  dark  machinations, 
Middlemas  to  join  the  Begum  on  her  return  to  the  My- 
sore. The  gold  and  diamonds  of  Tippoo,  the  importance 
which  he  was  about  to  acquire,  the  ridding  himself  at 
once  of  the  capricious  authority  of  the  irritable  Tippoo 
and  the  troublesome  claims  of  the  Begum,  were  such 
agreeable  subjects  of  contemplation,  that  he  scarcely 
thought  of  the  fate  of  his  European  victim,  unless  to 
salve  his  conscience  with  the  hope  that  the  sole  injury 
she  could  sustain  might  be  the  alarm  of  a  few  days, 
during  the  course  of  which  he  would  acquire  the  means 
of  delivering  her  from  the  tyrant  in  whose  zenana  she 
was  to  remain  a  temporary  prisoner.  He  resolved,  at  the 
same  time,  to  abstain  from  seeing  her  till  the  moment  he 
could  afford  her  protection,  justly  considering  the  danger 
which  his  whole  plan  might  incur  if  he  again  awakened 
the  jealousy  of  the  Begum.  This,  he  trusted,  was  now 
asleep;  and,  in  the  course  of  their  return  to  Tippoo's 
camp,  near  Bangalore,  it  was  his  study  to  soothe  this 
ambitious  and  crafty  female  by  blandishments,  inter- 
mingled with  the  more  splendid  prospects  of  wealth  and 
power  to  be  opened  to  them  both,  as  he  pretended,  by 
the  success  of  his  present  enterprise.^ 
*  See  Note  3. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

It  appears  that  the  jealous  and  tyrannical  Begum  did 
not  long  suspend  her  purpose  of  agonizing  her  rival  by 
acquainting  her  with  her  intended  fate.  By  prayers  or 
rewards,  Menie  Gray  prevailed  on  a  servant  of  Ram 
Sing  Cottah  to  deliver  to  Hartley  the  following  distracted 
note: — 

'All  is  true  your  fears  foretold.  He  has  delivered  me 
up  to  a  cruel  woman,  who  threatens  to  sell  me  to  the 
tyrant  Tippoo.  Save  me  if  you  can;  if  you  have  not 
pity,  or  cannot  give  me  aid,  there  is  none  left  upon 
earth.  — M.G.' 

The  haste  with  which  Dr.  Hartley  sped  to  the  Fort, 
and  demanded  an  audience  of  the  governor,  was  de- 
feated by  the  delays  interposed  by  Paupiah. 

It  did  not  suit  the  plans  of  this  artful  Hindoo  that  any 
interruption  should  be  opposed  to  the  departure  of  the 
Begum  and  her  favourite,  considering  how  much  the 
plans  of  the  last  corresponded  with  his  own.  He  affected 
increduhty  on  the  charge  when  Hartley  complained  of 
an  Englishwoman  being  detained  in  the  train  of  the 
Begum  against  her  consent,  treated  the  complaint  of 
Miss  Gray  as  the  result  of  some  female  quarrel  un- 
worthy of  particular  attention,  and  when  at  length  he 
took  some  steps  for  examining  further  into  the  mat- 
ter, he  contrived  they  should  be  so  tardy,  that  the 

387 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Begum  and  her  retinue  were  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
interruption. 

Hartley  let  his  indignation  betray  him  into  reproaches 
against  Paupiah,  in  which  his  principal  was  not  spared. 
This  only  served  to  give  the  impassible  Bramin  a  pretext 
for  excluding  him  from  the  residency,  with  a  hint  that, 
if  his  language  continued  to  be  of  such  an  imprudent 
character,  he  might  expect  to  be  removed  from  Madras, 
and  stationed  at  some  hill-fort  or  village  among  the 
mountains,  where  his  medical  knowledge  would  find  full 
exercise  in  protecting  himself  and  others  from  the  iin- 
healthiness  of  the  climate. 

As  he  retired,  bursting  with  ineffectual  indignation, 
Esdale  was  the  first  person  whom  Hartley  chanced  to 
meet  with,  and  to  him,  stung  with  impatience,  he  com- 
municated what  he  termed  the  infamous  conduct  of  the 
governor's  dubash,  connived  at,  as  he  had  but  too  much 
reason  to  suppose,  by  the  governor  himself;  exclaiming 
against  the  want  of  spirit  which  they  betrayed,  in  aban- 
doning a  British  subject  to  the  fraud  of  renegades  and 
the  force  of  a  tyrant. 

Esdale  listened  with  that  sort  of  anxiety  which  prudent 
men  betray  when  they  feel  themselves  like  to  be  drawn 
into  trouble  by  the  discourse  of  an  imprudent  friend. 

*If  you  desire  to  be  personally  righted  in  this  matter,' 
said  he  at  length,  'you  must  apply  to  Leadenhall  Street, 
where,  I  suspect  —  betwixt  ourselves  —  complaints  are 
accumulating  fast,  both  against  Paupiah  and  his  mas- 
ter.' 

'I  care  for  neither  of  them,'  said  Hartley;  *I  need  no 
personal  redress  —  I  desire  none.  I  only  want  succour 
for  Menie  Gray.' 

388 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

*In  that  case,'  said  Esdale,  'you  have  only  one  re- 
source: you  must  apply  to  Hyder  himseK  — ' 

'  To  Hyder  —  to  the  usurper  —  the  tyrant?  * 

'Yes,  to  this  usurper  and  tyrant,'  answered  Esdale, 
'you  must  be  contented  to  apply.  His  pride  is,  to  be 
thought  a  strict  administrator  of  justice;  and  perhaps  he 
may  on  this,  as  on  other  occasions,  choose  to  display 
himself  in  the  light  of  an  impartial  magistrate.' 

'Then  I  go  to  demand  justice  at  his  footstool,'  said 
Hartley. 

'Not  so  fast,  my  dear  Hartley,'  answered  his  friend; 
'first  consider  the  risk.  Hyder  is  just  by  reflection,  and 
perhaps  from  political  considerations;  but  by  tempera- 
ment his  blood  is  as  unruly  as  ever  beat  under  a  black 
skin,  and  if  you  do  not  find  him  in  the  vein  of  judging,  he 
is  likely  enough  to  be  in  that  of  killing.  Stakes  and  bow- 
strings are  as  frequently  in  his  head  as  the  adjustment 
of  the  scales  of  justice.' 

'No  matter,  I  will  instantly  present  myself  at  his 
durbar.  The  governor  cannot  for  very  shame  refuse  me 
letters  of  credence.' 

'Never  think  of  asking  them,'  said  his  more  experi- 
enced friend ;  '  it  would  cost  Paupiah  little  to  have  them 
so  worded  as  to  induce  Hyder  to  rid  our  sable  dubash  at 
once  and  for  ever  of  the  sturdy,  free-spoken  Dr.  Adam 
Hartley.  A  vakeel,  or  messenger  of  government,  sets  out 
to-morrow  for  Seringapatam ;  contrive  to  join  him  on 
the  road,  his  passport  will  protect  you  both.  Do  you 
know  none  of  the  chiefs  about  Hyder's  person? ' 

'None,  excepting  his  late  emissary  to  this  place, 
Barak  el  Hadgi,'  answered  Hartley. 

'His  support,'  said  Esdale,  'although  only  a  fakir, 

389 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

may  be  as  effectual  as  that  of  persons  of  more  essential 
consequence.  And,  to  say  the  truth,  where  the  caprice 
of  a  despot  is  the  question  in  debate,  there  is  no  knowing 
upon  what  it  is  best  to  reckon.  Take  my  advice,  my  dear 
Hartley,  leave  this  poor  girl  to  her  fate.  After  all,  by 
placing  yourself  in  an  attitude  of  endeavouring  to  save 
her,  it  is  a  hundred  to  one  that  you  only  ensure  your  own 
destruction.' 

Hartley  shook  his  head,  and  bade  Esdale  hastily  fare- 
well; leaving  him  in  the  happy  and  self -applauding  state 
of  mind  proper  to  one  who  has  given  the  best  advice  pos- 
sible to  a  friend,  and  may  conscientiously  wash  his  hands 
of  all  consequences. 

Having  furnished  himself  with  money,  and  with  the 
attendance  of  three  trusty  native  servants,  mounted  like 
himself  on  Arab  horses,  and  carrying  with  them  no  tent, 
and  very  little  baggage,  the  anxious  Hartley  lost  not  a 
moment  in  taking  the  road  to  Mysore,  endeavouring,  in 
the  meantime,  by  recollecting  every  story  he  had  ever 
heard  of  Hyder's  justice  and  forbearance,  to  assure  him- 
self that  he  should  find  the  Nawaub  disposed  to  protect 
a  helpless  female,  even  against  the  future  heir  of  his 
empire. 

Before  he  crossed  the  Madras  territory,  he  overtook 
the  vakeel,  or  messenger  of  the  British  government,  of 
whom  Esdale  had  spoken.  This  man,  accustomed  for  a 
sum  of  money  to  permit  adventurous  European  traders 
who  desired  to  visit  Hyder's  capital  to  share  his  pro- 
tection, passport,  and  escort,  was  not  disposed  to  refuse 
the  same  good  office  to  a  gentleman  of  credit  at  Madras ; 
and,  propitiated  by  an  additional  gratuity,  undertook 
to  travel  as  speedily  as  possible.  It  was  a  journey  which 

390 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

was  not  prosecuted  without  much  fatigue  and  consider- 
able danger,  as  they  had  to  traverse  a  country  frequently 
exposed  to  all  the  evils  of  war,  more  especially  when  they 
approached  the  Ghauts,  those  tremendous  mountain- 
passes  which  descend  from  the  tableland  of  Mysore,  and 
through  which  the  mighty  streams  that  arise  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  Indian  peninsula  find  their  way  to  the  ocean. 

The  sun  had  set  ere  the  party  reached  the  foot  of  one 
of  these  perilous  passes,  up  which  lay  the  road  to  Sering- 
apatam.  A  narrow  path,  which  in  summer  resembled  an 
empty  watercourse,  winding  upwards  among  immense 
rocks  and  precipices,  was  at  one  time  completely  over- 
shadowed by  dark  groves  of  teak-trees,  and  at  another 
found  its  way  beside  impenetrable  jungles,  the  habita- 
tion of  jackals  and  tigers. 

By  means  of  this  unsocial  path  the  travellers  threaded 
their  way  in  silence  —  Hartley,  whose  impatience  kept 
him  before  the  vakeel,  eagerly  inquiring  when  the  moon 
would  enlighten  the  darkness,  which,  after  the  sun's  dis- 
appearance, closed  fast  around  them.  He  was  answered 
by  the  natives  according  to  their  usual  mode  of  expres- 
sion, that  the  moon  was  in  her  dark  side,  and  that  he  was 
not  to  hope  to  behold  her  bursting  through  a  cloud  to 
illuminate  the  thickets  and  strata  of  black  and  slaty 
rocks  amongst  which  they  were  winding.  Hartley  had 
therefore  no  resource  save  to  keep  his  eye  steadily  fixed 
on  the  lighted  match  of  the  sowar,  or  horseman,  who  rode 
before  him,  which,  for  sufficient  reasons,  was  always 
kept  in  readiness  to  be  applied  to  the  priming  of  the 
matchlock.  The  vidette,  on  his  part,  kept  a  watchful 
eye  on  the  dowrah,  a  guide  supplied  at  the  last  village, 
who,  having  got  more  than  halfway  from  his  own  house, 

391 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

was  much  to  be  suspected  of  meditating  how  to  escape 
the  trouble  of  going  farther.^  The  dowrah,  on  the  other 
hand,  conscious  of  the  Hghted  match  and  loaded  gun 
behind  him,  hollowed  from  time  to  time  to  show  that  he 
was  on  his  duty,  and  to  accelerate  the  march  of  the  trav- 
ellers. His  cries  were  answered  by  an  occasional  ejacu- 
lation of  'Ulla!'  from  the  black  soldiers,  who  closed  the 
rear,  and  who  were  meditating  on  former  adventures, 
the  plundering  of  a  kaffila  (party  of  travelling  mer- 
chants), or  some  such  exploit,  or  perhaps  reflecting  that 
a  tiger,  in  the  neighbouring  jungle,  might  be  watching 
patiently  for.  the  last  of  the  party,  in  order  to  spring 
upon  him,  according  to  his  usual  practice. 

The  sun,  which  appeared  almost  as  suddenly  as  it 
had  left  them,  served  to  light  the  travellers  in  the  re- 
mainder of  the  ascent,  and  called  forth  from  the  Moham- 
medans belonging  to  the  party  the  morning  prayer  of 
Allah  ackbar,  which  resounded  in  long  notes  among  the 
rocks  and  ravines,  and  they  continued  with  better 
advantage  their  forced  march  until  the  pass  opened  upon 
a  boundless  extent  of  jungle,  with  a  single  high  mud  fort 
rising  through  the  midst  of  it.  Upon  this  plain  rapine 
and  war  had  suspended  the  labours  of  industry,  and  the 
rich  vegetation  of  the  soil  had  in  a  few  years  converted  a 
fertile  champaign  country  into  an  almost  impenetrable 
thicket.  Accordingly,  the  banks  of  a  small  nullah,  or 
brook,  were  covered  with  the  footmarks  of  tigers  and 
other  animals  of  prey. 

Here  the  travellers  stopped  to  drink,  and  to  refresh 
themselves  and  their  horses;  and  it  was  near  this  spot 
that  Hartley  saw  a  sight  which  forced  him  to  compare 

*  See  Note  4. 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

the  subject  which  engrossed  his  own  thoughts  with  the 
distress  that  had  afflicted  another. 

At  a  spot  not  far  distant  from  the  brook,  the  guide 
called  their  attention  to  a  most  wretched-looking  man, 
overgrown  with  hair,  who  was  seated  on  the  skin  of  a 
tiger.  His  body  was  covered  with  mud  and  ashes,  his 
skin  sun-burnt,  his  dress  a  few  wretched  tatters.  He 
appeared  not  to  observe  the  approach  of  the  strangers, 
neither  moving  nor  speaking  a  word,  but  remaining  with 
his  eyes  fixed  on  a  small  and  rude  tomb,  formed  of  the 
black  slate-stones  which  lay  around,  and  exhibiting  a 
small  recess  for  a  lamp.  As  they  approached  the  man, 
and  placed  before  him  a  rupee  or  two  and  some  rice,  they 
observed  that  a  tiger's  skull  and  bones  lay  beside  him, 
with  a  sabre  almost  consumed  by  rust. 

While  they  gazed  on  this  miserable  object,  the  guide 
acquainted  them  with  his  tragical  history.  Sadhu  Sing 
had  been  a  sipahee,  or  soldier,  and  freebooter  of  course, 
the  native  and  the  pride  of  a  half-ruined  village  which 
they  had  passed  on  the  preceding  day.  He  was  betrothed 
to  the  daughter  of  a  sipahee,  who  served  in  the  mud  fort 
which  they  saw  at  a  distance  rising  above  the  jungle.  In 
due  time,  Sadhu,  with  his  friends,  came  for  the  purpose 
of  the  marriage,  and  to  bring  home  the  bride.  She  was 
mounted  on  a  tatoo,  a  small  horse  belonging  to  the  coun- 
try, and  Sadhu  and  his  friends  preceded  her  on  foot  in  all 
their  joy  and  pride.  As  they  approached  the  nullah  near 
which  the  travellers  were  resting,  there  was  heard  a 
dreadful  roar,  accompanied  by  a  shriek  of  agony.  Sadhu 
Sing,  who  instantly  turned,  saw  no  trace  of  his  bride, 
save  that  her  horse  ran  wild  in  one  direction,  whilst  in 
the  other  the  long  grass  and  reeds  of  the  jungle  were 

393 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

moving  like  the  ripple  of  the  ocean,  when  distorted  by 
the  course  of  a  shark  holding  its  way  near  the  surface. 
Sadhu  drew  his  sabre  and  rushed  forward  in  that  direc- 
tion; the  rest  of  the  party  remained  motionless  until 
roused  by  a  short  roar  of  agony.  They  then  plunged  into 
the  jungle  with  their  drawn  weapons,  where  they  speedily 
found  Sadhu  Sing  holding  in  his  arms  the  lifeless  corpse 
of  his  bride,  while  a  little  farther  lay  the  body  of  the 
tiger,  slain  by  such  a  blow  over  the  neck  as  desperation 
itself  could  alone  have  discharged.  The  brideless  bride- 
groom would  permit  none  to  interfere  with  his  sorrow. 
He  dug  a  grave  for  his  Mora,  and  erected  over  it  the  rude 
tomb  they  saw,  and  never  afterwards  left  the  spot.  The 
beasts  of  prey  themselves  seemed  to  respect  or  dread  the 
extremity  of  his  sorrow.  His  friends  brought  him  food 
and  water  from  the  nullah;  but  he  neither  smiled  nor 
showed  any  mark  of  acknowledgment  unless  when  they 
brought  him  flowers  to  deck  the  grave  of  Mora.  Four  or 
five  years,  according  to  the  guide,  had  passed  away,  and 
there  Sadhu  Sing  still  remained  among  the  trophies  of 
his  grief  and  his  vengeance,  exhibiting  all  the  symptoms 
of  advanced  age,  though  still  in  the  prime  of  youth. 

The  tale  hastened  the  travellers  from  their  resting- 
place;  the  vakeel  because  it  reminded  him  of  the  dangers 
of  the  jungle,  and  Hartley  because  it  coincided  too  well 
with  the  probable  fate  of  his  beloved,  almost  within  the 
grasp  of  a  more  formidable  tiger  than  that  whose  skele- 
ton lay  beside  Sadhu  Sing. 

It  was  at  the  mud  fort  already  mentioned  that  the 
travellers  received  the  first  accounts  of  the  progress  of 
the  Begum  and  her  party,  by  a  peon,  or  foot-soldier,  who 
had  been  in  their  company,  but  was  now  on  his  return 

394 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

to  the  coast.  'They  had  travelled,'  he  said,  'with  great 
speed,  until  they  ascended  the  Ghauts,  where  they  were 
joined  by  a  party  of  the  Begum's  own  forces;  and  he 
and  others,  who  had  been  brought  from  Madras  as  a 
temporary  escort,  were  paid  and  dismissed  to  their 
homes.  After  this,  he  understood,  it  was  the  purpose  of 
the  Begum  Mootee  Mahul  to  proceed  by  slow  marches 
and  frequent  halts  to  Bangalore,  the  vicinity  of  which 
place  she  did  not  desire  to  reach  until  Prince  Tippoo, 
with  whom  she  desired  an  interview,  should  have  re- 
turned from  an  expedition  towards  Vandicotta,  in  which 
he  had  lately  been  engaged.' 

From  the  result  of  his  anxious  inquiries,  Hartley  had 
reason  to  hope  that,  though  Seringapatam  was  seventy- 
five  miles  more  to  the  eastward  than  Bangalore,  yet,  by 
using  dihgence,  he  might  have  time  to  throw  himself  at 
the  feet  of  Hyder  and  beseech  his  interposition  before  the 
meeting  betwixt  Tippoo  and  the  Begum  should  decide 
the  fate  of  Menie  Gray.  On  the  other  hand,  he  trembled 
as  the  peon  told  him  that  the  Begum's  bukshee,  or  gen- 
eral, who  had  travelled  to  Madras  with  her  in  disguise, 
had  now  assumed  the  dress  and  character  belonging  to 
his  rank,  and  it  was  expected  he  was  to  be  honoured  by 
the  Mohammedan  prince  with  some  high  office  of  dig- 
nity. With  still  deeper  anxiety,  he  learned  that  a  palan- 
quin, watched  with  sedulous  care  by  the  slaves  of  Orien- 
tal jealousy,  contained,  it  was  whispered,  a  Feringi,  or 
Frankish  woman,  beautiful  as  a  houri,  who  had  been 
brought  from  England  by  the  Begum  as  a  present  to 
Tippoo.  The  deed  of  villainy  was  therefore  in  full  train 
to  be  accomplished;  it  remained  to  see  whether,  by  dili- 
gence on  Hartley's  side,  its  course  could  be  interrupted. 

395 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS      - 

When  this  eager  vindicator  of  betrayed  innocence 
arrived  in  the  capital  of  Hyder,  it  may  be  believed  that 
he  consumed  no  time  in  viewing  the  temple  of  the  cele- 
brated Vishnoo,  or  in  surveying  the  splendid  gardens 
called  Loll-bang,  which  were  the  monument  of  Hyder's 
magnificence,  and  now  hold  his  mortal  remains.  On  the 
contrary,  he  was  no  sooner  arrived  in  the  city  than  he 
hastened  to  the  principal  mosque,  having  no  doubt  that 
he  was  there  most  likely  to  learn  some  tidings  of  Barak 
el  Hadgi.  He  approached,  accordingly,  the  sacred  spot, 
and  as  to  enter  it  would  have  cost  a  Feringi  his  life,  he 
employed  the  agency  of  a  devout  Mussulman  to  obtain 
information  concerning  the  person  whom  he  sought.  He 
was  not  long  in  learning  that  the  fakir  Barak  was  within 
the  mosque,  as  he  had  anticipated,  busied  with  his  holy 
office  of  reading  passages  from  the  Koran  and  its  most 
approved  commentators.  To  interrupt  him  in  his  devout 
task  was  impossible,  and  it  was  only  by  a  high  bribe  that 
he  could  prevail  on  the  same  Moslem  whom  he  had  before 
employed  to  slip  into  the  sleeve  of  the  holy  man's  robe  a 
paper  containing  his  name  and  that  of  the  khan  in  which 
the  vakeel  had  taken  up  his  residence.  The  agent  brought 
back  for  answer,  that  the  fakir,  immersed,  as  was  to  be 
expected,  in  the  holy  service  which  he  was  in  the  act  of 
discharging,  had  paid  no  visible  attention  to  the  symbol 
of  intimation  which  the  Feringi  sahih  (European  gentle- 
man) had  sent  to  him.  Distracted  with  the  loss  of  time, 
of  which  each  moment  was  precious,  Hartley  next  en- 
deavoured to  prevail  on  the  Mussulman  to  interrupt 
the  fakir's  devotions  with  a  verbal  message;  but  the  man 
was  indignant  at  the  very  proposal. 

*Dog  of  a  Christian!'  he  said,  'what  art  thou  and  thy 

396 


THE   SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

whole  generation,  that  Barak  el  Hadgi  should  lose  a 
divine  thought  for  the  sake  of  an  infidel  Hke  thee?' 

Exasperated  beyond  self-possession,  the  unfortunate 
Hartley  was  now  about  to  intrude  upon  the  precincts  of 
the  mosque  in  person,  in  hopes  of  interrupting  the  for- 
mal prolonged  recitation  which  issued  from  its  recesses, 
when  an  old  man  laid  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  pre- 
vented him  from  a  rashness  which  might  have  cost  him 
his  life,  saying,  at  the  same  time,  'You  are  a  sahih 
Angrezie  (English  gentleman);  I  have  been  a  telinga  (a 
private  soldier)  in  the  Company's  service,  and  have 
eaten  their  salt.  I  will  do  your  errand  for  you  to  the 
fakir  Barak  el  Hadgi.' 

So  saying,  he  entered  the  mosque,  and  presently 
returned  with  the  fakir's  answer,  in  these  enigmatical 
words  —  *  He  who  would  see  the  sun  rise  must  watch 
till  the  dawn.' 

With  this  poor  subject  of  consolation.  Hartley  retired 
to  his  inn,  to  meditate  on  the  futility  of  the  professions 
of  the  natives,  and  to  devise  some  other  mode  of  finding 
access  to  Hyder  than  that  which  he  had  hitherto  trusted 
to.  On  this  point,  however,  he  lost  all  hope,  being  in- 
formed by  his  late  fellow-traveller,  whom  he  found  at 
the  khan,  that  the  Nawaub  was  absent  from  the  city  on 
a  secret  expedition,  which  might  detain  him  for  two  or 
three  days.  This  was  the  answer  which  the  vakeel  him- 
self had  received  from  the  dewan,  with  a  further  inti- 
mation, that  he  must  hold  himself  ready,  when  he  was 
required,  to  deliver  his  credentials  to  Prince  Tippoo, 
instead  of  the  Nawaub,  his  business  being  referred  to  the 
former  in  a  way  not  very  promising  for  the  success  of  his 
mission. 

397 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

Hartley  was  now  nearly  thrown  into  despair.  He 
applied  to  more  than  one  officer  supposed  to  have  credit 
with  the  Nawaub,  but  the  slightest  hint  of  the  nature  of 
his  business  seemed  to  strike  all  with  terror.  Not  one  of 
the  persons  he  applied  to  would  engage  in  the  affair,  or 
even  consent  to  give  it  a  hearing ;  and  the  dewan  plainly 
told  him,  that  to  engage  in  opposition  to  Prince  Tippoo's 
wishes  was  the  ready  way  to  destruction,  and  exhorted 
him  to  return  to  the  coast.  Driven  almost  to  distraction 
by  his  various  failures.  Hartley  betook  himself  in  the 
evening  to  the  khan.  The  call  of  the  muezzins  thunder- 
ing from  the  minarets  had  invited  the  faithful  to  prayers, 
when  a  black  servant,  about  fifteen  years  old,  stood 
before  Hartley,  and  pronounced  these  words,  deliber- 
ately, and  twice  over  —  'Thus  says  Barak  el  Hadgi,  the 
watcher  in  the  mosque  —  He  that  would  see  the  sun 
rise,  let  him  turn  towards  the  east.'  He  then  left  the 
caravanserai ;  and  it  may  be  well  supposed  that  Hartley, 
starting  from  the  carpet  on  which  he  had  lain  down  to 
repose  himself,  followed  his  youthfxil  guide  with  re- 
newed vigour  and  palpitating  hope. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


'T  was  the  hour  when  rites  unholy 

Call'd  each  paynitn  voice  to  prayer, 
And  the  star  that  faded  slowlj' 

Left  to  dews  the  freshen'd  air. 

Day  his  sultry  fires  had  wasted, 

Calm  and  cool  the  moonbeams  shone; 
To  the  vizier's  lofty  palace 

One  bold  Christian  came  alone. 

Thomas  Campbell.    Quoted  from  memory. 


The  twilight  darkened  into  night  so  fast,  that  it  was 
only  by  his  white  dress  that  Hartley  could  discern  his 
guide,  as  he  tripped  along  the  splendid  bazaar  of  the 
city.  But  the  obscurity  was  so  far  favourable,  that  it 
prevented  the  inconvenient  attention  which  the  natives 
might  otherwise  have  bestowed  upon  the  European  in 
his  native  dress,  a  sight  at  that  time  very  rare  in 
Seringapatam. 

The  various  turnings  and  windings  through  which  he 
was  conducted  ended  at  a  small  door  in  a  wall,  which, 
from  the  branches  that  hung  over  it,  seemed  to  surround 
a  garden  or  grove. 

The  postern  opened  on  a  tap  from  his  guide,  and  a 
slave  having  entered,  Hartley  prepared  to  follow,  but 
stepped  back  as  a  gigantic  African  brandished  at  his 
head  a  scimitar  three  fingers  broad.  The  young  slave 
touched  his  countryman  with  a  rod  which  he  held  in  his 
hand,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  touch  disabled  the  giant, 
whose  arm  and  weapon  sunk  instantly.  Hartley  entered 
without  further  opposition,  and  was  now  in  a  grove  of 
mango-trees,  through  which  an  infant  moon  was  twink- 

399 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ling  faintly  amid  the  murmur  of  waters,  the  sweet  song 
of  the  nightingale,  and  the  odours  of  the  rose,  yellow 
jasmine,  orange  and  citron  flowers,  and  Persian  nar- 
cissus. Huge  domes  and  arches,  which  were  seen  imper- 
fectly in  the  quivering  light,  seemed  to  intimate  the 
neighbourhood  of  some  sacred  edifice,  where  the  fakir 
had  doubtless  taken  up  his  residence. 

Hartley  pressed  on  with  as  much  haste  as  he  could, 
and  entered  a  side-door  and  narrow  vaulted  passage,  at 
the  end  of  which  was  another  door.  Here  his  guide 
stopped,  but  pointed  and  made  indications  that  the 
European  should  enter.  Hartley  did  so,  and  found 
himself  in  a  small  cell,  such  as  we  have  formerly  de- 
scribed, wherein  sate  Barak  el  Hadgi,  with  another 
fakir,  who,  to  judge  from  the  extreme  dignity  of  a  white 
beard,  which  ascended  up  to  his  eyes  on  each  side,  must 
be  a  man  of  great  sanctity,  as  well  as  importance. 

Hartley  pronounced  the  usual  salutation  of  ^  Salam 
alaikum'  in  the  most  modest  and  deferential  tone;  but 
his  former  friend  was  so  far  from  responding  in  their 
former  strain  of  intimacy,  that,  having  consulted  the  eye 
of  his  older  companion,  he  barely  pointed  to  a  third 
carpet,  upon  which  the  stranger  seated  himself  cross- 
legged  after  the  country  fashion,  and  a  profound  silence 
prevailed  for  the  space  of  several  minutes.  Hartley 
knew  the  Oriental  customs  too  well  to  endanger  the 
success  of  his  suit  by  precipitation.  He  waited  an  inti- 
mation to  speak.  At  length  it  came,  and  from  Barak. 

'When  the  pilgrim  Barak,'  he  said,  'dwelt  at  Madras 
he  had  eyes  and  a  tongue ;  but  now  he  is  guided  by  those 
of  his  father,  the  holy  Scheik  Hali  ben  Khaledoun,  the 
superior  of  his  convent.' 

400 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

This  extreme  humility  Hartley  thought  inconsistent 
with  the  afifectation  of  possessing  superior  influence 
which  Barak  had  shown  while  at  the  presidency;  but 
exaggeration  of  their  own  consequence  is  a  foible  com- 
mon to  all  who  find  themselves  in  a  land  of  strangers. 
Addressing  the  senior  fakir,  therefore,  he  told  him  in  as 
few  words  as  possible  the  villainous  plot  which  was  laid 
to  betray  Menie  Gray  into  the  hands  of  the  Prince 
Tippoo.  He  made  his  suit  for  the  reverend  father's 
intercession  with  the  prince  himself,  and  with  his  father 
the  Nawaub,  in  the  most  persuasive  terms.  The  fakir 
listened  to  him  with  an  inflexible  and  immovable 
aspect,  similar  to  that  with  which  a  wooden  saint  re- 
gards his  eager  supplicants.  There  was  a  second  pause, 
when,  after  resuming  his  pleading  more  than  once, 
Hartley  was  at  length  compelled  to  end  it  for  want  of 
matter. 

The  silence  was  broken  by  the  elder  fakir,  who,  after 
shooting  a  glance  at  his  younger  companion  by  a  turn  of 
the  eye,  without  the  least  alteration  of  the  position  of 
the  head  and  body,  said,  'The  unbeliever  has  spoken 
like  a  poet.  But  does  he  think  that  the  Nawaub  Hyder 
AH  Khan  Behauder  will  contest  with  his  son,  Tippoo 
the  Victorious,  the  possession  of  an  infidel  slave? ' 

Hartley  received  at  the  same  time  a  side  glance  from 
Barak,  as  if  encouraging  him  to  plead  his  own  cause.  He 
suffered  a  minute  to  elapse,  and  then  replied, — 

*  The  Nawaub  is  in  the  place  of  the  Prophet  —  a  judge 
over  the  low  as  well  as  high.  It  is  written  that,  when  the 
Prophet  decided  a  controversy  between  the  two  spar- 
rows concerning  a  grain  of  rice,  his  wife  Fatima  said  to 
him,  "Doth  the  missionary  of  Allah  well  to  bestow  his 


401 


?  15 pjiT  a   t:-  :^  r '^  1  *"  ■;.    r- "^  f  tt 


mim  -w. 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

time  in  distributing  justice  on  a  matter  so  slight,  and 
between  such  despicable  litigants?"  "Know,  woman," 
answered  the  Prophet,  "  that  the  sparrows  and  the  grain 
of  rice  are  the  creation  of  Allah.  They  are  not  worth 
more  than  thou  hast  spoken;  but  justice  is  a  treasure 
of  inestimable  price,  and  it  must  be  imparted  by  him 
who  holdeth  power  to  all  who  require  it  at  his  hand. 
The  prince  doth  the  will  of  Allah,  who  gives  it  ahke  in 
small  matters  as  in  great,  and  to  the  poor  as  well  as  the 
powerful.  To  the  hungry  bird  a  grain  of  rice  is  as  a 
chaplet  of  pearls  to  a  sovereign."  I  have  spoken.' 

'Bismallahl  — Praised  be  God!  he  hath  spoken  like  a 
moullah,'  said  the  elder  fakir,  with  a  little  more  emotion, 
and  some  inclination  of  his  head  towards  Barak,  for  on 
Hartley  he  scarcely  deigned  even  to  look. 

'The  Hps  have  spoken  it  which  cannot  lie,'  replied 
Barak,  and  there  was  again  a  pause. 

It  was  once  more  broken  by  Scheik  Hali,  who,  address- 
ing himself  directly  to  Hartley,  demanded  of  him, 
'Hast  thou  heard,  Feringi,  of  aught  of  treason  meditated 
by  this  kafr  (infidel)  against  the  Nawaub  Behauder?' 

'Out  of  a  traitor  cometh  treason,'  said  Hartley,  'but, 
to  speak  after  my  knowledge,  I  am  not  conscious  of  such 
design.' 

'There  is  truth  in  the  words  of  him,'  said  the  fakir, 
'who  accuseth  not  his  enemy  save  on  his  knowledge. 
The  things  thou  hast  spoken  shall  be  laid  before  the 
Nawaub;  and  as  Allah  and  he  will,  so  shall  the  issue  be. 
Meantime,  return  to  thy  khan,  and  prepare  to  attend 
the  vakeel  of  thy  government,  who  is  to  travel  with 
dawn  to  Bangalore,  the  strong,  the  happy,  the  holy  city. 
Peace  be  with  thee!  Is  it  not  so,  my  son?' 

402 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Barak,  to  whom  this  appeal  was  made,  replied,  'Even 
as  my  father  hath  spoken.' 

Hartley  had  no  alternative  but  to  arise  and  take  his 
leave  with  the  usual  phrase,  ^Salam  —  God's  peace  be 
with  you!' 

His  youthful  guide,  who  waited  his  return  without,  con- 
ducted him  once  more  to  his  khan,  through  bye-paths 
which  he  could  not  have  found  out  without  pilotage. 
His  thoughts  were  in  the  meantime  strongly  engaged  on 
his  late  interview.  He  knew  the  Moslem  men  of  religion 
were  not  implicitly  to  be  trusted.  The  whole  scene  might 
be  a  scheme  of  Barak  to  get  rid  of  the  trouble  of  patron- 
ising a  European  in  a  deHcate  affair;  and  he  determined 
to  be  guided  by  what  should  seem  to  confirm  or  discredit 
the  intimation  which  he  had  received. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  khan  he  found  the  vakeel  of  the 
British  government  in  a  great  bustle,  preparing  to  obey 
directions  transmitted  to  him  by  the  Nawaub's  dewan, 
or  treasurer,  directing  him  to  depart  the  next  morning 
with  break  of  day  for  Bangalore. 

He  expressed  great  discontent  at  the  order,  and  when 
Hartley  intimated  his  purpose  of  accompanying  him, 
seemed  to  think  him  a  fool  for  his  pains,  hinting  the 
probability  that  Hyder  meant  to  get  rid  of  them  both 
by  means  of  the  freebooters,  through  whose  countries 
they  were  to  pass  with  such  a  feeble  escort.  This  fear 
gave  way  to  another  when  the  time  of  departure  came, 
at  which  moment  there  rode  up  about  two  hundred  of 
the  Nawaub's  native  cavalry.  The  sirdar  who  com- 
manded these  troops  behaved  with  civility,  and  stated 
that  he  was  directed  to  attend  upon  the  travellers,  and 
to  provide  for  their  safety  and  convenience  on  the  jour- 

403 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

ney;  but  his  manner  was  reserved  and  distant,  and  the 
vakeel  insisted  that  the  force  was  intended  to  prevent 
their  escape  rather  than  for  their  protection.  Under 
such  unpleasant  auspices,  the  journey  between  Seringa- 
patam  and  Bangalore  was  accomplished  in  two  days  and 
part  of  a  third,  the  distance  being  nearly  eighty  miles. 

On  arriving  in  view  of  this  fine  and  populous  city,  they 
found  an  encampment  already  established  within  a  mile 
of  its  walls.  It  occupied  a  tope,  or  knoll,  covered  with 
trees,  and  looked  full  on  the  gardens  which  Tippoo  had 
created  in  one  quarter  of  the  city.  The  rich  pavilions  of 
the  principal  persons  flamed  with  silk  and  gold;  and 
spears  with  gilded  points,  or  poles  supporting  gold 
knobs,  displayed  numerous  little  banners,  inscribed  with 
the  name  of  the  Prophet.  This  was  the  camp  of  the 
Begum  Mootee  Mahul,  who,  with  a  small  body  of  her 
troops,  about  two  hundred  men,  was  waiting  the  return 
of  Tippoo  under  the  walls  of  Bangalore.  Their  private 
motives  for  desiring  a  meeting  the  reader  is  acquainted 
with;  to  the  public  the  visit  of  the  Begum  had  only  the 
appearance  of  an  act  of  deference,  frequently  paid  by 
inferior  and  subordinate  princes  to  the  patrons  whom 
they  depend  upon. 

These  facts  ascertained,  the  sirdar  of  the  Nawaub 
took  up  his  own  encampment  within  sight  of  that  of  the 
Begum,  but  at  about  half  a  mile's  distance,  despatching 
to  the  city  a  messenger  to  announce  to  the  Prince 
Tippoo,  so  soon  as  he  should  arrive,  that  he  had  come 
hither  with  the  English  vakeel. 

The  bustle  of  pitching  a  few  tents  was  soon  over,  and 
Hartley,  solitary  and  sad,  was  left  to  walk  under  the 
shade  of  two  or  three  mango-trees,  and,  looking  to  the 

404 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

displayed  streamers  of  the  Begum's  encampment,  to 
reflect  that  amid  these  insignia  of  Mohammedanism 
Menie  Gray  remained,  destined  by  a  profligate  and 
treacherous  lover  to  the  fate  of  slavery  to  a  heathen 
tyrant.  The  consciousness  of  being  in  her  vicinity 
added  to  the  bitter  pangs  with  which  Hartley  contem- 
plated her  situation,  and  reflected  how  little  chance 
there  appeared  of  his  being  able  to  rescue  her  from  it  by 
the  mere  force  of  reason  and  justice,  which  was  all  he 
could  oppose  to  the  selfish  passions  of  a  voluptuous 
tyrant.  A  lover  of  romance  might  have  meditated  some 
means  of  effecting  her  release  by  force  or  address;  but 
Hartley,  though  a  man  of  courage,  had  no  spirit  of 
adventure,  and  would  have  regarded  as  desperate  any 
attempt  of  the  kind. 

His  sole  gleam  of  comfort  arose  from  the  impression 
which  he  had  apparently  made  upon  the  elder  fakir, 
which  he  could  not  help  hoping  might  be  of  some  avail 
to  him.  But  on  one  thing  he  was  firmly  resolved,  and 
that  was,  not  to  relinquish  the  cause  he  had  engaged  in 
whilst  a  grain  of  hope  remained.  He  had  seen  in  his  own 
profession  a  quickening  and  a  revival  of  life  in  the 
patient's  eye,  even  when  glazed  apparently  by  the  hand 
of  death;  and  he  was  taught  confidence  amidst  moral 
evil  by  his  success  in  relieving  that  which  was  physical 
only. 

While  Hartley  was  thus  meditating,  he  was  roused  to 
attention  by  a  heavy  firing  of  artillery  from  the  high 
bastions  of  the  town;  and,  turning  his  eyes  in  that  direc- 
tion, he  could  see  advancing,  on  the  northern  side  of 
Bangalore,  a  tide  of  cavalry,  riding  tumultuously  for- 
ward, brandishing  their  spears  in  all  different  attitudes, 

40s 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

and  pressing  their  horses  to  a  gallop.  The  clouds  of  dust 
which  attended  this  vanguard,  for  such  it  was,  combined 
with  the  smoke  of  the  guns,  did  not  permit  Hartley  to 
see  distinctly  the  main  body  which  followed;  but  the 
appearance  of  howdahed  elephants  and  royal  banners, 
dimly  seen  through  the  haze,  plainly  intimated  the 
return  of  Tippoo  to  Bangalore;  while  shouts  and  irregu- 
lar discharges  of  musketry  announced  the  real  or  pre- 
tended rejoicing  of  the  inhabitants.  The  city  gates 
received  the  living  torrent  which  rolled  towards  them; 
the  clouds  of  smoke  and  dust  were  soon  dispersed,  and 
the  horizon  was  restored  to  serenity  and  silence. 

The  meeting  between  persons  of  importance,  more 
especially  of  royal  rank,  is  a  matter  of  very  great  conse- 
quence in  India,  and  generally  much  address  is  employed 
to  induce  the  person  receiving  the  visit  to  come  as  far  as 
possible  to  meet  the  visitor.  From  merely  rising  up,  or 
going  to  the  edge  of  the  carpet,  to  advancing  to  the  gate 
of  the  palace,  to  that  of  the  city,  or,  finally,  to  a  mile  or 
two  on  the  road,  is  all  subject  to  negotiation.  But 
Tippoo 's  impatience  to  possess  the  fair  European  in- 
duced him  to  grant  on  this  occasion  a  much  greater 
degree  of  courtesy  than  the  Begum  had  dared  to  expect, 
and  he  appointed  his  garden,  adjacent  to  the  city  walls, 
and  indeed  included  within  the  precincts  of  the  fortifi- 
cations, as  the  place  of  their  meeting;  the  hour  noon,  on 
the  day  succeeding  his  arrival;  for  the  natives  seldom 
move  early  in  the  morning,  or  before  having  broken  their 
fast.  This  was  intimated  to  the  Begum's  messenger  by 
the  prince  in  person,  as,  kneeling  before  him,  he  pre- 
sented the  nuzzur  (a  tribute  consisting  of  three,  five,  or 
seven  gold  mohurs,  always  an  odd  number),  and  re- 

406 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

ceived  in  exchange  a  khelaut,  or  dress  of  honour.  The 
messenger,  in  return,  was  eloquent  in  describing  the 
importance  of  his  mistress,  her  devoted  veneration  for 
the  prince,  the  pleasure  which  she  experienced  on  the 
prospect  of  their  motakul,  or  meeting,  and  concluded 
with  a  more  modest  compliment  to  his  own  extraordi- 
nary talents,  and  the  confidence  which  the  Begum 
reposed  in  him.  He  then  departed;  and  orders  were 
given  that  on  the  next  day  all  should  be  in  readiness  for 
the  sowarree,  a  grand  procession,  when  the  prince  was  to 
receive  the  Begum  as  his  honoured  guest  at  his  pleasure- 
house  in  the  gardens. 

Long  before  the  appointed  hour,  the  rendezvous  of 
fakirs,  beggars,  and  idlers,  before  the  gate  of  the  palace, 
intimated  the  excited  expectations  of  those  who  usually 
attend  processions;  while  a  more  urgent  set  of  mendi- 
cants, the  courtiers,  were  hastening  thither,  on  horses 
or  elephants,  as  their  means  afforded,  always  in  a  hurry 
to  show  their  zeal,  and  with  a  speed  proportioned  to 
what  they  hoped  or  feared. 

At  noon  precisely,  a  discharge  of  cannon,  placed  in  the 
outer  courts,  as  also  of  matchlocks  and  of  small  swivels, 
carried  by  camels  (the  poor  animals  shaking  their  long 
ears  at  every  discharge),  announced  that  Tippoo  had 
mounted  his  elephant.  The  solemn  and  deep  sound  of 
the  naggra,  or  state  drum,  borne  upon  an  elephant,  was 
then  heard  like  the  distant  discharge  of  artillery,  fol- 
lowed by  a  long  roll  of  musketry,  and  was  instantly 
answered  by  that  of  numerous  trumpets  and  tom-toms, 
or  common  drums,  making  a  discordant,  but  yet  a 
martial,  din.  The  noise  increased  as  the  procession 
traversed  the  outer  courts  of  the  palace  in  succession, 

407 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

and  at  length  issued  from  the  gates,  having  at  their  head 
the  chohdars,  bearing  silver  sticks  and  clubs,  and  shout- 
ing at  the  pitch  of  their  voices  the  titles  and  the  virtues 
of  Tippoo,  the  great,  the  generous,  the  invincible  — 
strong  as  Rustan,  just  as  Noushirvan  —  with  a  short 
prayer  for  his  continued  health. 

After  these  came  a  confused  body  of  men  on  foot, 
bearing  spears,  matchlocks,  and  banners,  and  intermixed 
with  horsemen,  some  in  complete  shirts  of  mail,  with 
caps  of  steel  under  their  turbans,  some  in  a  sort  of 
defensive  armour,  consisting  of  rich  silk  dresses,  ren- 
dered sabre-proof  by  being  stuffed  with  cotton.  These 
champions  preceded  the  prince,  as  whose  bodyguards 
they  acted.  It  was  not  till  after  this  time  that  Tippoo 
raised  his  celebrated  tiger-regiment,  disciplined  and 
armed  according  to  the  European  fashion.  Immediately 
before  the  prince  came,  on  a  small  elephant,  a  hard-faced, 
severe-looking  man,  by  office  the  distributer  of  alms, 
which  he  flung  in  showers  of  small  copper  money  among 
the  fakirs  and  beggars,  whose  scrambles  to  collect  them 
seemed  to  augment  their  amount;  while  the  grim-looking 
agent  of  Mohammedan  charity,  together  with  his  ele- 
phant, which  marched  with  half  angry  eyes,  and  its 
trunk  curled  upwards,  seemed  both  alike  ready  to 
chastise  those  whom  poverty  should  render  too  import- 
unate. 

Tippoo  himself  next  appeared  richly  apparelled,  and 
seated  on  an  elephant,  which,  carrying  its  head  above 
all  the  others  in  the  procession,  seemed  proudly  con- 
scious of  superior  dignity.  The  howdah,  or  seat,  which 
the  prince  occupied  was  of  silver,  embossed  and  gilt, 
having  behind  a  place  for  a  confidential  servant,  who 

408 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

waved  the  great  chowry,  or  cow-tail,  to  keep  ofiF  the 
flies;  but  who  could  also  occasionally  perform  the  task 
of  spokesman,  being  well  versed  in  all  terms  of  flattery 
and  compliment.  The  caparisons  of  the  royal  elephant 
were  of  scarlet  cloth,  richly  embroidered  with  gold. 
Behind  Tippoo  came  the  various  courtiers  and  officers 
of  the  household,  mounted  chiefly  on  elephants,  all 
arrayed  in  their  most  splendid  attire,  and  exhibiting  the 
greatest  pomp. 

In  this  manner  the  procession  advanced  down  the 
principal  street  of  the  town,  to  the  gate  of  the  royal 
gardens.  The  houses  were  ornamented  by  broadcloth, 
silk  shawls,  and  embroidered  carpets  of  the  richest 
colours,  displayed  from  the  verandahs  and  windows; 
even  the  meanest  hut  was  adorned  with  some  piece  of 
cloth,  so  that  the  whole  street  had  a  singularly  rich  and 
gorgeous  appearance. 

This  splendid  procession  having  entered  the  royal 
gardens,  approached,  through  a  long  avenue  of  lofty 
trees,  a  chabootra,  or  platform  of  white  marble,  canopied 
by  arches  of  the  same  material,  which  occupied  the 
centre.  It  was  raised  four  or  five  feet  from  the  ground, 
covered  with  white  cloth  and  Persian  carpets.  In  the 
centre  of  the  platform  was  the  musnud,  or  state  cushion 
of  the  prince,  six  feet  square,  composed  of  crimson  vel- 
vet, richly  embroidered.  By  especial  grace,  a  small  low 
cushion  was  placed  on  the  right  of  the  prince,  for  the 
occupation  of  the  Begum.  In  front  of  this  platform  was 
a  square  tank,  or  pond,  of  marble,  four  feet  deep,  and 
filled  to  the  brim  with  water  as  clear  as  crystal,  having 
a  large  jet  or  fountain  in  the  middle,  which  threw  up  a 
column  of  it  to  the  height  of  twenty  feet. 

409 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

The  Prince  Tippoo  had  scarcely  dismounted  from  his 
elephant  and  occupied  the  musnud,  or  throne  of  cush- 
ions, when  the  stately  form  of  the  Begum  was  seen  ad- 
vancing to  the  place  of  rendezvous.  The  elephant  being 
left  at  the  gate  of  the  gardens  opening  into  the  country, 
opposite  to  that  by  which  the  procession  of  Tippoo  had 
entered,  she  was  carried  in  an  open  litter,  richly  orna- 
mented with  silver,  and  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  six 
black  slaves.  Her  person  was  as  richly  attired  as  silks 
and  gems  could  accomplish. 

Richard  Middlemas,  as  the  Begum's  general  or 
bukshee,  walked  nearest  to  her  litter,  in  a  dress  as 
magnificent  in  itself  as  it  was  remote  from  all  European 
costume,  being  that  of  a  banka,  or  Indian  courtier.  His 
turban  was  of  rich  silk  and  gold,  twisted  very  hard,  and 
placed  on  one  side  of  his  head,  its  ends  hanging  down  on 
the  shoulder.  His  mustaches  were  turned  and  curled, 
and  his  eyelids  stained  with  antimony.  The  vest  was  of 
gold  brocade,  with  a  cummerbund,  or  sash,  around  his 
waist,  corresponding  to  his  turban.  He  carried  in  his 
hand  a  large  sword,  sheathed  in  a  scabbard  of  crimson 
velvet,  and  wore  around  his  middle  a  broad  embroidered 
sword-belt.  What  thoughts  he  had  under  this  gay  attire, 
and  the  bold  bearing  which  corresponded  to  it,  it  would 
be  fearful  to  unfold.  His  least  detestable  hopes  were 
perhaps  those  which  tended  to  save  Menie  Gray,  by 
betraying  the  prince  who  was  about  to  confide  in  him, 
and  the  Begum,  at  whose  intercession  Tippoo's  confi- 
dence was  to  be  reposed. 

The  litter  stopped  as  it  approached  the  tank,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  which  the  prince  was  seated  on  his  mus- 
nud.   Middlemas  assisted  the  Begum  to  descend,  and 

410 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

led  her,  deeply  veiled  with  silver  muslin,  towards  the 
platform  of  marble.  The  rest  of  the  retinue  of  the 
Begum  followed  in  their  richest  and  most  gaudy  attire 
—  all  males,  however;  nor  was  there  a  symptom  of 
woman  being  in  her  train,  except  that  a  close  litter, 
guarded  by  twenty  black  slaves,  having  their  sabres 
drawn,  remained  at  some  distance  in  a  thicket  of  flow- 
ering shrubs. 

When  Tippoo  Sahib,  through  the  dim  haze  which 
hung  over  the  waterfall,  discerned  the  splendid  train  of 
the  Begum  advancing,  he  arose  from  his  musnud,  so  as 
to  receive  her  near  the  foot  of  his  throne,  and  exchanged 
greetings  with  her  upon  the  pleasure  of  meeting,  and 
inquiries  after  their  mutual  health.  He  then  conducted 
her  to  the  cushion  placed  near  to  his  own,  while  his 
courtiers  anxiously  showed  their  politeness  in  accom- 
modating those  of  the  Begum  with  places  upon  the 
carpets  around,  where  they  all  sat  down  cross-legged, 
Richard  Middlemas  occupying  a  conspicuous  situation. 

The  people  of  inferior  note  stood  behind,  and  amongst 
them  was  the  sirdar  of  Hyder  Ali,  with  Hartley  and  the 
Madras  vakeel.  It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the 
feelings  with  which  Hartley  recognised  the  apostate 
Middlemas  and  the  amazonian  Mrs.  Montreville.  The 
sight  of  them  worked  up  his  resolution  to  make  an  ap- 
peal against  them,  in  full  durbar,  to  the  justice  which 
Tippoo  was  obliged  to  render  to  all  who  should  complain 
of  injuries.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  prince,  who  had 
hitherto  spoken  in  a  low  voice,  while  acknowledging,  it 
is  to  be  supposed,  the  services  and  the  fidelity  of  the 
Begum,  now  gave  the  sign  to  his  attendant,  who  said,  in 
an  elevated  tone,   'Wherefore,   and   to  requite   these 

411 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

services,  the  mighty  prince,  at  the  request  of  the 
mighty  Begum  Mootee  Mahul,  beautiful  as  the  moon, 
and  wise  as  the  daughter  of  Giamschid,  had  decreed  to 
take  into  his  service  the  bukshee  of  her  armies,  and  to 
invest  him,  as  one  worthy  of  all  confidence,  with  the 
keeping  of  his  beloved  capital  of  Bangalore.' 

The  voice  of  the  crier  had  scarce  ceased,  when  it  was 
answered  by  one  as  loud,  which  sounded  from  the  crowd 
of  bystanders,  'Cursed  is  he  who  maketh  the  robber 
Leik  his  treasurer,  or  trusteth  the  lives  of  Moslemah  to 
the  command  of  an  apostate ! ' 

With  unutterable  satisfaction,  yet  with  trembling 
doubt  and  anxiety,  Hartley  traced  the  speech  to  the 
elder  fakir,  the  companion  of  Barak.  Tippoo  seemed 
not  to  notice  the  interruption,  which  passed  for  that  of 
some  mad  devotee,  to  whom  the  Moslem  princes  permit 
great  freedoms.  The  durbar,  therefore,  recovered  from 
their  surprise;  and,  in  answer  to  the  proclamation, 
united  in  the  shout  of  applause  which  is  expected  to 
attend  every  annunciation  of  the  royal  pleasure. 

Their  acclamation  had  no  sooner  ceased  than  Middle- 
mas  arose,  bent  himself  before  the  musnud,  and,  in  a  set 
speech,  declared  his  un worthiness  of  such  high  honour 
as  had  now  been  conferred,  and  his  zeal  for  the  prince's 
service.  Something  remained  to  be  added,  but  his 
speech  faltered,  his  limbs  shook,  and  his  tongue  seemed 
to  refuse  its  office. 

The  Begum  started  from  her  seat,  though  contrary  to 
etiquette,  and  said,  as  if  to  supply  the  deficiency  in  the 
speech  of  her  officer,  'My  slave  would  say  that,  in 
acknowledgment  of  so  great  an  honour  conferred  on  my 
bukshee,  I  am  so  void  of  means  that  I  can  only  pray 

412 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

your  Highness  will  deign  to  accept  a  lily  from  Frangistan, 
to  plant  within  the  recesses  of  the  secret  garden  of  thy 
pleasures.  Let  my  lord's  guards  carry  yonder  litter  to 
the  zenana,' 

A  female  scream  was  heard,  as,  at  a  signal  from  Tip- 
poo,  the  guards  of  his  seraglio  advanced  to  receive  the 
closed  litter  from  the  attendants  of  the  Begum. 

The  voice  of  the  old  fakir  was  heard  louder  and 
sterner  than  before  —  '  Cursed  is  the  prince  who  barters 
justice  for  lust!  He  shall  die  in  the  gate  by  the  sword 
of  the  stranger.' 

'This  is  too  insolent!'  said  Tippoo.  'Drag  forward 
that  fakir,  and  cut  his  robe  into  tatters  on  his  back  with 
your  chabouks  J 

But  a  scene  ensued  like  that  in  the  hall  of  Seyd.  All 
who  attempted  to  obey  the  command  of  the  incensed 
despot  fell  back  from  the  fakir,  as  they  would  from  the 
Angel  of  Death.  He  flung  his  cap  and  fictitious  beard 
on  the  ground,  and  the  incensed  countenance  of  Tippoo 
was  subdued  in  an  instant,  when  he  encountered  the  stern 
and  awful  eye  of  his  father.  A  sign  dismissed  him  from 
the  throne,  which  Hyder  himself  ascended,  while  the 
ofhcious  menials  hastily  disrobed  him  of  his  tattered 
cloak,  and  flung  on  him  a  robe  of  regal  splendour,  and 
placed  on  his  head  a  jewelled  turban.  The  durbar  rung 
with  acclamations  to  Hyder  Ali  Khan  Behauder,  'the 
good,  the  wise,  the  discoverer  of  hidden  things,  who 
Cometh  into  the  divan  like  the  sun  bursting  from  the 
clouds.' 

The  Nawaub  at  length  signed  for  silence,  and  was 
promptly  obeyed.  He  looked  majestically  around  him, 
and  at  length  bent  his  look  upon  Tippoo,  whose  down- 

413 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

cast  eyes,  as  he  stood  before  the  throne  with  his  arms 
folded  on  his  bosom,  were  strongly  contrasted  with  the 
haughty  air  of  authority  which  he  had  worn  but  a 
moment  before.  'Thou  hast  been  willing,'  said  the 
Nawaub,  *to  barter  the  safety  of  thy  capital  for  the 
possession  of  a  white  slave.  But  the  beauty  of  a  fair 
woman  caused  Solomon  ben  David  to  stumble  in  his 
path;  how  much  more,  then,  should  the  son  of  Hyder 
Naig  remain  firm  under  temptation !  That  men  may  see 
clearly,  we  must  remove  the  light  which  dazzles  them. 
Yonder  Feringi  woman  must  be  placed  at  my  disposal.' 

*To  hear  is  to  obey,'  replied  Tippoo,  while  the  deep 
gloom  on  his  brow  showed  what  his  forced  submission 
cost  his  proud  and  passionate  spirit. 

In  the  hearts  of  the  courtiers  present  reigned  the 
most  eager  curiosity  to  see  the  denouement  of  the  scene, 
but  not  a  trace  of  that  wish  was  suffered  to  manifest 
itself  on  features  accustomed  to  conceal  all  internal 
sensations.  The  feelings  of  the  Begum  were  hidden 
under  her  veil;  while,  in  spite  of  a  bold  attempt  to  con- 
ceal his  alarm,  the  perspiration  stood  in  large  drops  on 
the  brow  of  Richard  Middlemas. 

The  next  words  of  the  Nawaub  sounded  like  music 
in  the  ear  of  Hartley. 

'Carry  the  Feringi  woman  to  the  tent  of  the  Sirdar 
B  clash  Cassim  (the  chief  to  whom  Hartley  had  been 
committed).  Let  her  be  tended  in  all  honour,  and  let 
him  prepare  to  escort  her,  with  the  vakeel  and  the 
hakim  Hartley,  to  the  Payeen-Ghaut  (the  country 
beneath  the  passes),  answering  for  their  safety  with  his 
head.'  The  Utter  was  on  its  road  to  the  sirdar's  tents 
ere  the  Nawaub  had  done  speaking.  'For  thee,  Tippoo,' 

414 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

continued  Hyder,  'I  am  not  come  hither  to  deprive 
thee  of  authority,  or  to  disgrace  thee  before  the  durbar. 
Such  things  as  thou  hast  promised  to  this  Feringi,  pro- 
ceed to  make  them  good.  The  sun  calleth  not  back  the 
splendour  which  he  lends  to  the  moon;  and  the  father 
obscures  not  the  dignity  which  he  has  conferred  on  the 
son.  What  thou  hast  promised,  that  do  thou  proceed 
to  make  good.' 

The  ceremony  of  investiture  was  therefore  recom- 
menced, by  which  the  Prince  Tippoo  conferred  on 
Middlemas  the  important  government  of  the  city  of 
Bangalore,  probably  with  the  internal  resolution  that, 
since  he  was  himself  deprived  of  the  fair  European,  he 
would  take  an  early  opportunity  to  remove  the  new 
killedar  from  his  charge;  while  Middlemas  accepted  it 
with  the  throbbing  hope  that  he  might  yet  outwit  both 
father  and  son.  The  deed  of  investiture  was  read  aloud, 
the  robe  of  honour  was  put  upon  the  newly-created 
killedar,  and  a  hundred  voices,  while  they  blessed  the 
prudent  choice  of  Tippoo,  wished  the  governor  good 
fortune,  and  victory  over  his  enemies. 

A  horse  was  led  forward,  as  the  prince's  gift.  It  was  a 
fine  steed  of  the  Cuttyawar  breed,  high-crested,  with 
broad  hindquarters;  he  was  of  a  white  colour,  but  had 
the  extremity  of  his  tail  and  mane  stained  red.  His 
saddle  was  red  velvet,  the  bridle  and  crupper  studded 
with  gilded  knobs.  Two  attendants  on  lesser  horses  led 
this  prancing  animal,  one  holding  the  lance  and  the 
other  the  long  spear  of  their  patron.  The  horse  was 
shown  to  the  applauding  courtiers,  and  withdrawn,  in 
order  to  be  led  in  state  through  the  streets,  while  the 
new  killedar  should  follow  on   the  elephant,  another 

415 


VVAVERLEY  NOVELS 

present  usual  on  such  an  occasion,  which  was  next  made 
to  advance,  that  the  world  might  admire  the  munificence 
of  the  prince. 

The  huge  ardmal  approached  the  platform,  shaking 
his  large  wrinkled  head,  which  he  raised  and  sunk,  as  if 
impatient,  and  curling  upwards  his  trunk  from  time  to 
time,  as  if  to  show  the  gulf  of  his  tongueless  mouth. 
Gracefully  retiring  with  the  deepest  obeisance,  the  kille- 
dar,  well  pleased  the  audience  was  finished,  stood  by  the 
neck  of  the  elephant,  expecting  the  conductor  of  the 
animal  would  make  him  kneel  down,  that  he  might 
ascend  the  gilded  howdah  which  awaited  his  occupancy. 

'Hold,  Feringi,'  said  Hyder.  'Thou  hast  received  all 
that  was  promised  thee  by  the  bounty  of  Tippoo.  Ac- 
cept now  what  is  the  fruit  of  the  justice  of  Hyder.' 

As  he  spoke,  he  signed  with  his  finger,  and  the  driver 
of  the  elephant  instantly  conveyed  to  the  animal  the 
pleasure  of  the  Nawaub.  Curling  his  long  trunk  around 
the  neck  of  the  ill-fated  European,  the  monster  sud- 
denly threw  the  wretch  prostrate  before  him,  and, 
stamping  his  huge  shapeless  foot  upon  his  breast,  put 
an  end  at  once  to  his  fife  and  to  his  crimes.  The  cry 
which  the  victim  uttered  was  mimicked  by  the  roar  of 
the  monster,  and  a  sound  like  an  hysterical  laugh 
mingling  with  a  scream,  which  rung  from  under  the  veil 
of  the  Begum.  The  elephant  once  more  raised  his  trunk 
aloft,  and  gaped  fearfully. 

The  courtiers  preserved  a  profound  silence;  but 
Tippoo,  upon  whose  muslin  robe  a  part  of  the  victim's 
blood  had  spirted,  held  it  up  to  the  Nawaub,  exclaiming, 
in  a  sorrowful  yet  resentful  tone  —  '  Father  —  father, 
was  it  thus  my  promise  should  have  been  kept? ' 

416 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

'Know,  foolish  boy,'  said  Hyder  Ali,  'that  the  carrion 
which  Hes  there  was  in  a  plot  to  deliver  Bangalore  to  the 
Feringis  and  the  Mahrattas.  This  Begum  (she  started 
when  she  heard  herself  named)  has  given  us  warning 
of  the  plot,  and  has  so  merited  her  pardon  for  having 
originally  concurred  in  it,  —  whether  altogether  out  of 
love  to  us  we  will  not  too  curiously  inquire.  Hence  with 
that  lump  of  bloody  clay,  and  let  the  Hakim  Hartley 
and  the  English  vakeel  come  before  me.' 

They  were  brought  forward,  while  some  of  the 
attendants  flung  sand  upon  the  bloody  traces,  and 
others  removed  the  crushed  corpse. 

'Hakim,'  said  Hyder,  'thou  shalt  return  with  the 
Feringi  woman,  and  with  gold  to  compensate  her  in- 
juries, wherein  the  Begum,  as  is  fitting,  shall  contribute 
a  share.  Do  thou  say  to  thy  nation,  Hyder  Ali  acts 
justly.'  The  Nawaub  then  inclined  himself  graciously 
to  Hartley,  and  then  turning  to  the  vakeel,  who  ap- 
peared much  discomposed,  'You  have  brought  to  me,' 
he  said,  'words  of  peace,  while  your  masters  meditated 
a  treacherous  war.  It  is  not  upon  such  as  you  that  my 
vengeance  ought  to  alight.  But  tell  the  kafr,  or  infidel, 
Paupiah  and  his  unworthy  master  that  Hyder  Ali  sees 
too  clearly  to  suffer  to  be  lost  by  treason  the  advantages 
he  has  gained  by  war.  Hitherto  I  have  been  in  the 
Carnatic  as  a  mild  prince ;  in  future  I  will  be  a  destroying 
tempest.  Hitherto  I  have  made  inroads  as  a  compas- 
sionate and  merciful  conqueror;  hereafter  I  will  be  the 
messenger  whom  Allah  sends  to  the  kingdoms  which 
He  visits  in  judgment.' 

It  is  well  known  how  dreadfully  the  Nawaub  kept  this 
promise,  and  how  he  and  his  son  afterwards  sunk  before 
44  417 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

the  discipline  and  bravery  of  the  Europeans.  The  scene 
of  just  punishment  which  he  so  faithfully  exhibited  might 
be  owing  to  his  policy,  his  internal  sense  of  right,  and  to 
the  ostentation  of  displaying  it  before  an  Englishman  of 
sense  and  intelligence,  or  to  all  of  these  motives  mingled 
together,  but  in  what  proportions  it  is  not  for  us  to 
distinguish. 

Hartley  reached  the  coast  in  safety  with  his  precious 
charge,  rescued  from  a  dreadful  fate  when  she  was  almost 
beyond  hope.  But  the  nerves  and  constitution  of  Menie 
Gray  had  received  a  shock  from  which  she  long  suffered 
severely,  and  never  entirely  recovered.  The  principal 
ladies  of  the  settlement,  moved  by  the  singular  tale  of 
her  distress,  received  her  with  the  utmost  kindness,  and 
exercised  towards  her  the  most  attentive  and  affection- 
ate hospitality.  The  Nawaub,  faithful  to  his  promise, 
remitted  to  her  a  sum  of  no  less  than  ten  thousand  gold 
mohurs,  extorted,  as  was  surmised,  almost  entirely  from 
the  hoards  of  the  Begum  Mootee  Mahul,  or  Montreville. 
Of  the  fate  of  that  adventuress  nothing  was  known  for 
certainty ;  but  her  forts  and  government  were  taken  into 
Hyder's  custody,  and  report  said  that,  her  power  being 
abolished  and  her  consequence  lost,  she  died  by  poison, 
either  taken  by  herself  or  administered  by  some  other 
person. 

It  might  be  thought  a  natural  conclusion  of  the  his- 
tory of  Menie  Gray  that  she  should  have  married  Hart- 
ley, to  whom  she  stood  much  indebted  for  his  heroic 
interference  in  her  behalf.  But  her  feelings  were  too 
much  and  too  painfully  agitated,  her  health  too  much 
shattered,  to  permit  her  to  entertain  thoughts  of  a 

418 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

matrimonial  connexion,  even  with  the  acquaintance  of 
her  youth  and  the  champion  of  her  freedom.  Time 
might  have  removed  these  obstacles,  but  not  two  years 
after  their  adventures  in  Mysore  the  gallant  and  disin- 
terested Hartley  fell  a  victim  to  his  professional  courage 
in  withstanding  the  progress  of  a  contagious  distemper, 
.which  he  at  length  caught,  and  under  which  he  sunk. 
He  left  a  considerable  part  of  the  moderate  fortune 
which  he  had  acquired  to  Menie  Gray,  who,  of  course, 
did  not  want  many  advantageous  offers  of  a  matrimonial 
character.  But  she  respected  the  memory  of  Hartley  too 
much  to  subdue  in  behalf  of  another  the  reasons  which 
induced  her  to  refuse  the  hand  which  he  had  so  well 
deserved  —  nay,  it  may  be  thought,  had  so  fairly  won. 
She  returned  to  Britain  —  what  seldom  occurs  — 
unmarried  though  wealthy;  and,  settling  in  her  native 
village,  appeared  to  find  her  only  pleasure  in  acts  of 
benevolence,  which  seemed  to  exceed  the  extent  of  her 
fortune,  had  not  her  very  retired  life  been  taken  into 
consideration.  Two  or  three  persons  with  whom  she 
was  intimate  could  trace  in  her  character  that  generous 
and  disinterested  simplicity  and  affection  which  were 
the  groundwork  of  her  character.  To  the  world  at  large 
her  habits  seemed  those  of  the  ancient  Roman  matron, 
which  is  recorded  on  her  tomb  in  these  four  words, 

DOMUM  MANSIT  —  LaNAM  FECIT. 


MR.   CROFTANGRY'S  CONCLUSION 


If  you  tell  a  good  jest. 
And  please  all  the  rest, 

Comes  Dingley,  and  asks  you,  'What  was  it?' 
And  before  she  can  know 
Away  she  will  go 

To  seek  an  old  rag  in  the  closet. 

Dean  Swift. 


While  I  was  inditing  the  goodly  matter  which  my  read- 
ers have  just  perused,  I  might  be  said  to  go  through  a 
course  of  breaking-in  to  stand  criticism,  like  a  shooting- 
pony  to  stand  fire.  By  some  of  those  venial  breaches  of 
confidence  which  always  take  place  on  the  like  occasions, 
my  private  flirtations  with  the  muse  of  fiction  became 
a  matter  whispered  in  Miss  Fairscribe's  circle,  some 
ornaments  of  which  were,  I  suppose,  highly  interested 
in  the  progress  of  the  affair,  while  others  '  really  thought 
Mr.  Chrystal  Croftangry  might  have  had  more  wit  at 
his  time  of  day.'  Then  came  the  sly  intimation,  the 
oblique  remark,  all  that  sugar-lipped  raillery  which  is 
fitted  for  the  situation  of  a  man  about  to  do  a  foolish 
thing,  whether  it  be  to  publish  or  to  marry,  and  that 
accompanied  with  the  discreet  nods  and  winks  of  such 
friends  as  are  in  the  secret,  and  the  obliging  eagerness  of 
others  to  know  all  about  it. 

At  length  the  affair  became  so  far  public  that  I  was 
induced  to  face  a  tea-party  with  my  manuscript  in  my 
pocket,  looking  as  simple  and  modest  as  any  gentleman 
of  a  certain  age  need  to  do  upon  such  an  occasion. 
When  tea  had  been  carried  round,  handkerchiefs  and 

420 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

smelling  bottles  prepared,  I  had  the  honour  of  reading 
'  The  Surgeon's  Daughter,'  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
evening.  It  went  off  excellently.  My  friend  Mr.  Fair- 
scribe,  who  had  been  seduced  from  his  desk  to  join  the 
Hterary  circle,  only  fell  asleep  twice,  and  readily  recov- 
ered his  attention  by  help  of  his  snuff-box.  The  ladies 
were  politely  attentive,  and  when  the  cat,  or  the  dog,  or 
a  next  neighbour  tempted  an  individual  to  relax,  Katie 
Fairscribe  was  on  the  alert,  like  an  active  whipper-in, 
with  look,  touch,  or  whisper,  to  recall  them  to  a  sense 
of  what  was  going  on.  Whether  Miss  Katie  was  thus 
active  merely  to  enforce  the  hterary  discipline  of  her 
coterie,  or  whether  she  was  really  interested  by  the 
beauties  of  the  piece,  and  desirous  to  enforce  them  on 
others,  I  will  not  venture  to  ask,  in  case  I  should  end  in 
liking  the  girl  —  and  she  is  really  a  pretty  one  —  better 
than  wisdom  would  warrant,  either  for  my  sake  or  hers. 
I  must  own  my  story  here  and  there  flagged  a  good 
deal;  perhaps  there  were  faults  in  my  reading,  for,  while 
I  should  have  been  attending  to  nothing  but  how  to  give 
the  words  effect  as  they  existed,  I  was  feeUng  the  chilHng 
consciousness  that  they  might  have  been,  and  ought  to 
have  been,  a  great  deal  better.  However,  we  kindled  up 
at  last  when  we  got  to  the  East  Indies,  although,  on  the 
mention  of  tigers,  an  old  lady,  whose  tongue  had  been 
impatient  for  an  hour,  broke  in  with,  'I  wonder  if  Mr. 
Croftangry  ever  heard  the  story  of  Tiger  Tullideph?' 
and  had  nearly  inserted  the  whole  narrative  as  an  epi- 
sode in  my  tale.  She  was,  however,  brought  to  reason, 
and  the  subsequent  mention  of  shawls,  diamonds,  tur- 
bans, and  cummerbunds  had  their  usual  effect  in  awak- 
ening the  imaginations  of  the  fair  auditors.    At  the 

421 


WAVERLEY  NOVELS 

extinction  of  the  faithless  lover  in  a  way  so  horribly  new, 
I  had,  as  indeed  I  expected,  the  good  fortune  to  excite 
that  expression  of  painful  interest  which  is  produced  by 
drawing  in  the  breath  through  the  compressed  lips  — 
nay,  one  miss  of  fourteen  actually  screamed. 

At  length  my  task  was  ended,  and  the  fair  circle 
rained  odours  upon  me,  as  they  pelt  beaux  at  the  carni- 
val with  sugar-plums,  and  drench  them  with  scented 
spices.  There  was  'Beautiful,'  and  'Sweetly  interest- 
ing,' and  'O,  Mr.  Croftangry,'  and,  'How  much  obliged,' 
and  'What  a  delightful  evening,'  and  '0,  Miss  Katie, 
how  could  you  keep  such  a  secret  so  long!'  While  the 
dear  souls  were  thus  smothering  me  with  rose-leaves, 
the  merciless  old  lady  carried  them  all  off  by  a  disquisi- 
tion upon  shawls,  which  she  had  the  impudence  to  say 
arose  entirely  out  of  my  story.  Miss  Katie  endeavoured 
to  stop  the  flow  of  her  eloquence  in  vain:  she  threw  all 
other  topics  out  of  the  field,  and  from  the  genuine 
Indian  she  made  a  digression  to  the  imitation  shawls 
now  made  at  Paisley  out  of  real  Thibet  wool,  not  to  be 
known  from  the  actual  country  shawl,  except  by  some 
inimitable  cross-stitch  in  the  border.  'It  is  well,'  said 
the  old  lady,  wrapping  herself  up  in  a  rich  Kashmire, 
'that  there  is  some  way  of  knowing  a  thing  that  cost 
fifty  guineas  from  an  article  that  is  sold  for  five;  but  I 
venture  to  say  there  are  not  one  out  of  ten  thousand 
that  would  understand  the  difference.' 

The  pohteness  of  some  of  the  fair  ladies  would  now 
have  brought  back  the  conversation  to  the  forgotten 
subject  of  our  meeting.  'How  could  you,  Mr.  Croft- 
angry, collect  all  these  hard  words  about  India  —  you 
were  never  there?'    'No,  madam,  I  have  not  had  that 

422 


THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

advantage;  but,  like  the  imitative  operatives  of  Paisley, 
I  have  composed  my  shawl  by  incorporating  into  the 
woof  a  little  Thibet  wool,  which  my  excellent  friend  and 
neighbour,  Colonel  MacErries,  one  of  the  best  fellows 
who  ever  trode  a  Highland  moor,  or  dived  into  an  Indian 
jungle,  had  the  goodness  to  supply  me  with.' 

My  rehearsal,  however,  though  not  absolutely  and 
altogether  to  my  taste,  has  prepared  me  in  some  measure 
for  the  less  tempered  and  guarded  sentence  of  the  world. 
So  a  man  must  learn  to  encounter  a  foil  before  he  con- 
fronts a  sword;  and  to  take  up  my  original  simile,  a 
horse  must  be  accustomed  to  a /cm  dejoie  before  you  can 
ride  him  against  a  volley  of  balls.  Well,  Corporal  Nym's 
philosophy  is  not  the  worst  that  has  been  preached, 
'Things  must  be  as  they  may.'  If  my  lucubrations  give 
pleasure,  I  may  again  require  the  attention  of  the 
courteous  reader;  if  not,  here  end  the 

Chronicles  of  the  Canongate. 


APPENDIX,   NOTES,  AND 
GLOSSARY 


APPENDIX  TO  INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 

Mr.  Train  was  requested  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  to  give  him  in 
writing  the  story  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  shape  in  which  he 
had  told  it;  but  the  following  narrative,  which  he  drew  up  accord- 
ingly, did  not  reach  Abbotsford  imtil  July  1832:  — 

In  the  old  stock  of  Fife  there  was  not  perhaps  an  individual 
whose  exertions  were  followed  by  consequences  of  such  a  remark- 
able nature  as  those  of  Davie  Duflf,  popularly  called  the  'Thane 
of  Fife,'  who,  from  a  very  humble  parentage,  rose  to  fill  one  of 
the  chairs  of  the  magistracy  of  his  native  burgh.  By  industry  and 
economy  in  early  life,  he  obtained  the  means  of  erecting,  solely 
on  his  own  account,  one  of  those  ingenious  manufactories  for 
which  Fifeshire  is  justly  celebrated.  From  the  day  on  which  the 
industrious  artisan  first  took  his  seat  at  the  council  board,  he 
attended  so  much  to  the  interests  of  the  little  privileged  com- 
munity, that  civic  honours  were  conferred  on  him  as  rapidly  as 
the  set  of  the  royalty  ^  could  legally  admit. 

To  have  the  right  of  walking  to  church  on  holyday,  preceded 
by  a  phalanx  of  halberdiers,  in  habiliments  fashioned  as  in  former 
times,  seems,  in  the  eyes  of  many  a  guild  brother,  to  be  a  very 
enviable  pitch  of  worldly  grandeur.  Few  persons  were  ever  more 
proud  of  civic  honours  than  the  Thane  of  Fife,  but  he  knew  well 
how  to  turn  his  political  influence  to  the  best  account.  The  coun- 
cil, court,  and  other  business  of  the  burgh  occupied  much  of  his 
time,  which  caused  him  to  entrust  the  management  of  his  manu- 
factory to  a  near  relation  whose  name  was  D ,  a  young  man 

of  dissolute  habits;  but  the  Thane,  seeing  at  last  that,  by  con- 
tinuing that  extravagant  person  in  that  charge,  his  affairs  would, 
in  all  probability,  fall  into  a  state  of  bankruptcy,  applied  to  the 
member  of  Parliament  for  that  district  to  obtain  a  situation  for 
his  relation  in  the  civil  department  of  the  state.  The  knight, 
whom  it  is  here  unnecessary  to  name,  knowing  how  effectually  the 

1  The  constitution  of  the  borough. 
427 


APPENDIX  TO  INTRODUCTION 

Thane  ruled  the  little  burgh,  applied  in  the  proper  quarter,  and 

actually  obtained  an  appointment  for  D in  the  civil  service  of 

the  East  India  Company. 

A  respectable  surgeon,  whose  residence  was  in  a  neighbouring 
village,  had  a  beautiful  daughter  named  Emma,  who  had  long 

been  courted  by  D .    Immediately  before  his  departure  to 

India,  as  a  mark  of  mutual  affection,  they  exchanged  miniatures, 
taken  by  an  eminent  artist  in  Fife,  and  each  set  in  a  locket,  for 
the  purpose  of  having  the  object  of  affection  always  in  view. 

The  eyes  of  the  old  Thane  were  now  turned  towards  Hindostan 
with  much  anxiety;  but  his  relation  had  not  long  arrived  in  that 
distant  quarter  of  the  globe  before  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
receiving  a  letter,  conveying  the  welcome  intelligence  of  his  having 
taken  possession  of  his  new  station  in  a  large  frontier  town  of  the 
Company's  dominions,  and  that  great  emoluments  were  attached 
to  the  situation;  which  was  confirmed  by  several  subsequent 
communications  of  the  most  gratifying  description  to  the  old 
Thane,  who  took  great  pleasure  in  spreading  the  news  of  the 
reformed  habits  and  singular  good  fortune  of  his  intended  heir. 
None  of  all  his  former  acquaintances  heard  with  such  joy  the 
favourable  report  of  the  successful  adventurer  in  the  East  as  did 
the  fair  and  accomplished  daughter  of  the  village  surgeon;  but  his 
previous  character  caused  her  to  keep  her  own  correspondence 
with  him  secret  from  her  parents,  to  whom  even  the  circumstance 

of  her  being  acquainted  with  D was  wholly  unknown,  till  her 

father  received  a  letter  from  him,  in  which  he  assured  him  of  his 
attachment  to  Emma  long  before  his  departure  from  Fife;  that, 
having  been  so  happy  as  to  gain  her  affections,  he  would  have 
made  her  his  wife  before  leaving  his  native  country,  had  he  then 
had  the  means  of  supporting  her  in  a  suitable  rank  through  life; 
and  that,  having  it  now  in  his  power  to  do  so,  he  only  waited  the 
consent  of  her  parents  to  fulfil  the  vow  he  had  formerly  made. 

The  doctor  having  a  large  family,  with  a  very  limited  income  to 

support  them,  and  understanding  that  D had  at  last  become 

a  person  of  sober  and  industrious  habits,  he  gave  his  consent,  in 
which  Emma's  mother  fully  concurred. 

Aware  of  the  straitened  circumstances  of  the  doctor,  D 

remitted  a  sum  of  money  to  complete  at  Edinburgh  Emma's 
Oriental  education,  and  fit  her  out  in  her  journey  to  India;  she 
was  to  embark  at  Sheemess,  on  board  one  of  the  Company's  ships, 
for  a  port  in  India,  at  which  place,  he  said,  he  would  wait  her 
arrival,  with  a  retinue  suited  to  a  person  of  his  rank  in  society. 

428 


APPENDIX  TO  INTRODUCTION 

Emma  set  out  from  her  father's  house  just  in  time  to  secure  a 
passage,  as  proposed  by  her  intended  husband,  accompanied  by 
her  only  brother,  who,  on  their  arrival  at  Sheemess,  met  one 

C ,  an  old  schoolfellow,  captain  of  the  ship  by  which  Emma 

was  to  proceed  to  India. 

It  was  the  particular  desire  of  the  doctor  that  his  daughter 
should  be  committed  to  the  care  of  that  gentleman,  from  the 
time  of  her  leaving  the  shores  of  Britain  till  the  intended  marriage 
ceremony  was  duly  performed  on  her  arrival  in  India  —  a  charge 
that  was  frankly  undertaken  by  the  generous  sea-captain. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  at  the  appointed  port,  D ,  with  a 

large  cavalcade  of  mounted  Pindarees,  was,  as  expected,  in  attend- 
ance, ready  to  salute  Emma  on  landing,  and  to  carry  her  direct 

into  the  interior  of  the  country.  C ,  who  had  made  several 

voyages  to  the  shores  of  Hindostan,  knowing  something  of  Hindoo 
manners  and  customs,  was  surprised  to  see  a  private  individual 
in  the  Company's  service  with  so  many  attendants;  and  when 
D declined  having  the  marriage  ceremony  performed,  accord- 
ing to  the  rites  of  the  church,  till  he  returned  to  the  place  of  his 

abode,  C ,  more  and  more  confirmed  in  his  suspicion  that  all 

was  not  right,  resolved  not  to  part  with  Emma  till  he  had  fulfilled, 
in  the  most  satisfactory  manner,  the  promise  he  had  made  before 
leaving  England,  of  giving  her  duly  away  in  marriage.  Not  being 

able  by  her  entreaties  to  alter  the  resolution  of  D ,  Emma 

solicited  her  protector  C to  accompany  her  to  the  place  of  her 

intended  destination,  to  which  he  most  readily  agreed,  taking 
with  him  as  many  of  his  crew  as  he  deemed  sufficient  to  ensure  the 
safe  custody  of  his  innocent  proUgie,  should  any  attempt  be  made 
to  carry  her  away  by  force. 

Both  parties  journeyed  onwards  till  they  arrived  at  a  frontier 
town,  where  a  native  rajah  was  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  fair 
maid  of  Fife,  with  whom  he  had  fallen  deeply  in  love,  from  seeing 

her  miniature  likeness  in  the  possession  of  D ,  to  whom  he  had 

paid  a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  original,  and  had  only  entrusted 
him  to  convey  her  in  state  to  the  seat  of  his  government. 

No  sooner  was  this  villainous  action  of  D known  to  C 

than  he  communicated  the  whole  particulars  to  the  commanding 
officer  of  a  regiment  of  Scotch  Highlanders  that  happened  to  be 
quartered  in  that  part  of  India,  begging  at  the  same  time,  for  the 
honour  of  Caledonia  and  protection  of  injured  innocence,  that  he 
would  use  the  means  in  his  power  of  resisting  any  attempt  that 
might  be  made  by  the  native  chief  to  wrest  from  their  hands  the 

429 


APPENDIX  TO  INTRODUCTION 

virtuous  female  who  had  been  so  shamefully  decoyed  from  her 
native  country  by  the  worst  of  mankind.  Honour  occupies  too 
large  a  space  in  the  heart  of  the  Gael  to  resist  such  a  call  of 
humanity. 

The  rajah,  finding  his  claim  was  not  to  be  acceded  to,  and  re- 
solving to  enforce  the  same,  assembled  his  troops,  and  attacked 
with  great  fury  the  place  where  the  affrighted  Emma  was  for  a 
time  secured  by  her  countrymen,  who  fought  in  her  defence  with 
all  their  native  valour,  which  at  length  so  overpowered  their 
assailants,  that  they  were  forced  to  retire  in  every  direction, 
leaving  behind  many  of  their  slain,  among  whom  was  found  the 
mangled  corpse  of  the  perfidious  D . 

C was  immediately  afterwards  married   to  Emma,  and 

my  informant  assured  me  he  saw  them  many  years  afterwards, 
living  happily  together  in  the  county  of  Kent,  on  the  fortune 
bequeathed  by  the  'Thane  of  Fife.' 

J.  T. 

Castle  Douglas,  July  1832. 


NOTES 

Note  i,  p.  15. 

Persons  among  the  Crusaders  found  guilty  of  certain  offence 
did  penance  in  a  dress  of  tar  and  feathers,  though  it  is  supposed 
a  punishment  of  modern  invention. 

Note  2,  pp.  33  and  34. 
The  lines  of  Juvenal  imitated  by  Johnson  in  his  London  — 

All  sciences  a  fasting  Monsieur  knows ; 
And  bid  him  go  to  Hell  —  to  Hell  he  goes. 

*Do  thou  cultivate  justice:  for  thee  and  for  others  there  remains 
an  avenger.'  —  Ovid,  Met. 

Note  3,  p.  386. 

It  is  scarce  necessary  to  say,  that  such  things  could  only  be 
acted  in  the  earlier  period  of  our  Indian  settlements,  when  the 
check  of  the  Directors  was  imperfect,  and  that  of  the  Crown  did 
not  exist.  My  friend  Mr.  Fairscribe  is  of  opinion  that  there  is  an 
anachronism  in  the  introduction  of  Paupiah,  the  Bramin  dubash 
of  the  English  governor.  —  C.  C. 

Note  4,  p.  392. 

In  every  village  the  dowrah,  or  guide,  is  an  official  person,  upon 
the  public  establishment,  and  receives  a  portion  of  the  harvest 
or  other  revenue,  along  with  the  smith,  the  sweeper,  and  the 
barber.  As  he  gets  nothing  from  the  travellers  whom  it  is  his 
oflBce  to  conduct,  he  never  scruples  to  shorten  his  own  journey 
and  prolong  theirs  by  taking  them  to  the  nearest  village,  without 
reference  to  the  most  direct  line  of  route,  and  sometimes  deserts 
them  entirely.  If  the  regular  dowrah  is  sick  or  absent,  no  wealth 
can  procure  a  substitute. 


GLOSSARY 


a»,  all. 

abune,  above. 

abye,  pay  for,  atone  for. 

accolade,  the  touch  of  the  sword 
on  the  shoulder  when  conferring 
knighthood. 

ae,  one. 

aigrette,  a  small  plume. 

ain,  own. 

allah  ackbar,  God  is  great. 

alia  ilia  alia,  Mohamed  resoal  alia, 
God  is  God,  Mohammed  the 
prophet  of  God. 

amang,  among. 

arblast,  a  cross-bow. 

argosy,  a  merchant  vessel  of  the  larg- 
est size  and  burden. 

assoilzie,  pardon,  acquit,  absolve. 

a'thegither,  altogether. 

atmeidan,  a  circus,  an  exercise  ring. 

attaint,  a  successful  hit,  strol^e. 

auld,  old. 

ayah,  a  black  female  nurse,  generally 
a  native  of  India. 

bairn,  a  child. 

baith,  both. 

banka,  a  courtier. 

baron-bailie,  the  baron's  deputy  in 
a  burgh  or  barony. 

barret-cap,  a  flat  military  cap. 

bastinado,  a  mode  of  eastern  punish- 
ment, the  culprit  being  beaten  on 
the  bare  soles  of  the  feet  with  rods. 

baulder,  bolder. 

bedral,  a  sexton  or  beadle. 

begum,  a  lady  of  high  rank. 

belive,  immediately. 

bent,  ta'en  the,  taken  to  the  open 
field,  provided  for  one's  safety. 

bismallah!  in  the  name  of  God! 

blate,  civil,  bashful. 

blink,  a  glance. 

bonny,  fine;  bonny  dye,  pretty  toy. 


browst,  a  brewing;  as  much  as  is 

brewed  at  one  time, 
brusten,  burst. 
bukshee,  a  general. 

cacaabulum,  a  small  cooking  pot. 

cadgy,  sportive,  lively. 

canny,  careful. 

carle,  a  fellow,  a  person. 

carline,  an  old  woman. 

chabootra,  a  platform. 

chabouk,  a  long  whip. 

chield,  a  fellow,  a  person. 

chodbar,  an  usher,  a  macebearer. 

chowry,  a  flap  or  fan  made  of  a  cow's 

tail, 
chuckie-stanes,   pebbles   used  in  a 

child's  game. 
claver,  chatter,  tattling, 
cleek  to,  seize  upon, 
clocking-hen,  a  hen  sitting  on  eggs. 
cowries,  small  shells  used  as  money 

in  India. 
creeze,  kris,  a  short  knife  or  sword 

worn  in  the  East. 
cresset,  a  fixed  candlestick,  or  small 

portable  fire. 
crimping,   kidnapping  men  for  the 

army  or  the  navy. 
crore,   ten    million    rupees,    about 

£1,000,000. 
cull  in  the  ken,  fellow  in  the  house, 
cummerbund,  a  sash. 

daffing,  free  conversation,  frolicking, 
daidling-bit,  a  path  for  dawdling  or 

sauntering  on. 
dais,  a  canopy;  also,  the  chief  table, 

usually   placed   somewhat   higher 

than  the  others, 
dewan,  a  treasurer. 
dinna,  do  not. 
divan,   the  council  of   an    Eastern 

sovereign. 


44 


433 


GLOSSARY 


dormant  table,  a  stationary  table,  as 
distinguished  from  one  made  of 
boards  laid  on  trestles,  which  was 
the  usual  fashion  in  the  Middle 
Ages. 

dour,  stubborn,  hard  and  impene- 
trable in  body  or  mind. 

dowrah,  the  official  guide  of  a  Hindoo 
village. 

dromond,  a  large  transport  vessel. 

dubash,  a  steward. 

durbar,  an  official  reception. 

dye,  a  toy. 

ee,  een,  the  eye,  eyes. 

faitour,  an  evil  doer,  a  scoundrel,  a 
traitor. 

fakir,  a  religious  enthusiast. 

fanfaronade,  vain  boasting,  swagger- 
ing. 

fash,  trouble. 

fause-face,  a  false  face,  a  mask. 

felucca,  a  light  vessel. 

feringis,  Franks,  Europeans  of  all  na- 
tionalities. 

Feringi  sahibt  a  European  gentle- 
man. 

florentine  (veal),  a  pie. 

flyting,  scolding. 

forty-five,  the,  the  attempt  of  the 
Young  Pretender  in  1745. 

fyke,  trouble,  pains,  worry. 

gambade,  gambaud,  a  leap,  a  spring. 

gate,  way,  direction. 

genie,  a  supernatural  being  or  agent 

in  Oriental  myths  and  tales. 
gie,  give. 
girning  and  gabbling,  grinning  and 

talking. 
gled,  a  kite. 
glowering,  staring, 
gowffing,  playing  golf, 
guide,  treat;  guide  us,  keep  us. 

hakim,  a  physician. 

baud,  hold. 

hie,  high,  principal  (street). 

higgler,  a  huckster,  a  pedlar. 

hank,  a  hold,  a  position. 

haram,  the  women's  apartments  in  an 


Oriental's  house;  also  the  women, 
the  wives  and  their  attendants 
taken  collectively. 

hoggs,  shillings. 

hookah,  the  Oriental  tobacco  pipe. 

houri,  a  lovely  maiden  in  the  Mo- 
hammedan paradise. 

howdahed  (of  an  elephant)  provided 
with  a  howdah,  an  enclosed  seat  for 
persons  to  ride  in. 

hye-spye,  a  child's  game. 

ichor,  a  fluid  that  in  the  gods  an- 
swered to  the  blood  of  human 
bodies. 

ilk,  of  that,  of  the  same  place  or  name. 

jalousing,  suspecting,  opining. 
jigger-dubber,     a    door    shutter,  a 

porter. 
jouk  and  let  the  jaw  gae  by,  stoop,  or 

give  way,  and  let  the  wave  pass. 

kaffila,  a  caravan  of  merchants. 

kafr,  an  infidel,  from  the  standpoint 
of  a  Mohammedan. 

kail,  cabbage. 

ken,  know. 

kend,  knew,  known. 

kerne,  light-armed  foot-soldiers. 

khan,  an  Oriental  inn. 

khelaut,  a  dress  of  honour. 

killedar,  the  governor  or  command- 
ant of  a  fort. 

kirk,  church. 

kirtle,  a  gown,  an  outer  petticoat. 

lac,  the  sum  of  100,000  rupees,  worth 

about  £10,000. 
landloupers,  strollers. 
lang,  long, 
leddy,  a  lady. 
lelies,  the  name  given  to  the  Arab 

shout  of  onset. 
lesuries,  pastures. 
loon,  a  fellow,  a  rogue,  a  rustic  boy. 
lootie,  a  plunderer,  a  marauder. 
lucky,   dame;   a  title  given  to  old 

women. 

mair,  more. 

maud,  a  Lowland  plaid. 


434 


GLOSSARY 


Menle,  Marion. 

mohur,  an  Indian  gold  coin,  worth 

30s. 
mony,  many. 
mootee  mahul,  pearl  of  the  palace,  a 

term  of  endearment. 
mort-skin,  the  skin  of  a  lamb  or  sheep 

that  has  died  by  accident. 
mosque,   a   Mohammedan   place   of 

worship. 
motakul,  a  meeting. 
mouUah,  a  Mohammedan  priest. 
muezzin,  the  officer  of  a  mosque  who 

announces  the  hour  of  prayer  from 

a  lofty  minaret  or  slender  tower, 
muscadel,   a  sweet  strong  wine  of 

Italy  and  France. 
musnud,  a  state  cushion, 
mutchkin,  an  English  pint. 

nabob,  a  provincial  governor  or  com- 
mander of  an  army  in  India;  also  a 
rich  man  who  has  made  his  fortune 
in  India. 

nae,  no. 

nautch,  an  exhibition  by  professional 
dancers. 

Diddering,  nithing,  a  worthless  per- 
son. 

no,  not. 

nourjehan,  light  of  the  world,  a  term 
of  endearment. 

nullah,  a  small  brook,  a  torrent. 

nuzzar,  a  present  from  an  inferior  to  a 
superior. 

oe,  a  grandchild. 

ony,  any. 

ower,  over,  too. 

owliah,  wall,  a  Mohammedan  saint. 

pagoda,  a  Hindoo  temple. 

palmer,  a  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  Land. 

paynim,  pagan,  heathen. 

pettah,  the  town  or  suburb  outside  a 
fortified  place. 

pibroch,  an  air  on  the  bagpipes. 

pistrinum,  a  corn-mill  worked  by  an 
ass  or  a  horse;  slaves  were  some- 
times harnessed  to  it  as  a  mode  of 
punishment. 

podagra,  the  gout. 


queans,  wenches. 

rajah,  a  Hindoo  prince  who  is  a  ruler 
of  territories. 

rajahpoot,  a  noble  or  aristocrat  of 
India. 

rap,  a  counterfeit  coin  worth  about 
half  a  farthing. 

raploch,  coarse  woolen  homespun. 

rokelay,  a  woman's  short  cloak. 

rose-noble,  an  old  gold  coin  worth  6*. 
8d. 

rupee,  a  silver  coin  of  India,  nomi- 
nally worth  2s. 

sae,  so. 

Sahib  Angrezie,  an  English  gentle- 
man, 
salam,  a  curtsey  or  obeisance, 
salam  alaikum,  Peace  be  with  you! 
salam     alaikimi    bema     sebartemi 

Peace  abide  with  you,  for  that  ye 

have  endured  patiently, 
screeds,  shreds,  pieces, 
scunner,  to  gie  a,  to  exhibit  loathing 

or  disgust  at. 
sebastos,  august. 
sem^e,  strewn,  sown. 
sequin,  a  gold  coin  worth  about  gs. 
seraglio,    women's   quarters   in   the 

palace  of  an  eastern  prince, 
shieling,  a  hut. 
sic,  such. 

sicarius,  an  assassin. 
siller,  silver,  money, 
sipahi,  sepoy,  a  native  foot  soldier  in 

India, 
sirdar,  a  chieftain,  an  officer, 
skaithless,  unhurt,  uninjured, 
skirls,  screams. 
souple,  supple,  active, 
sowar,  a  native  cavalryman  in  Indian 

armies. 
sowarree,  a  grand  procession, 
springald,  a  youth,  an  active  young 

man. 
stadia,  stadium,  a  Greek  measure  of 

distance  equivalent  to  200  yards. 
syllabub,  a  dish  of  wine  with  milk  or 

cream,  a  sort  of  curd. 

tak,  take. 


435 


GLOSSARY 


tantivy,  a  violent  outbreak, 
tatoo,  a  small  horse  of  Southern  India, 
tecbii,  an  Arab  shout  of  onset, 
telinga,  a  native  soldier  in  the  East 

India  Company's  service. 
thae,  these,  those. 

thane,  the  chief  of  a  clan,  a  retainer, 
theme,  a  province  or  division  of  the 

Byzantine  Empire. 
threep,  persist. 

townfit,  the  foot  or  end  of  the  town, 
toy,  a  woman's  headdress. 
twa,  two. 

ultramontane,  beyond  the  mountains 
—  that  is,  north  of  the  Alps. 


upsides  with,  even  with. 

vakeel,  a  government  messenger. 
vavasour,  a  vassal  of  intermediate 

rank. 
vizard,  the  front  of  a  helmet,  a  mask. 

weans,  children. 

well  to  pass,  well  to  do,  prosperous. 

yin,  one. 

zenana,  the  harem  or  wives  of  an  In- 
dian prince  or  noble  with  theii 
attendants. 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S    .   A 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A   A  001    424   101  2 


^■^il 


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